Her Flames
by Caulerpa
Summary: The past and the present of my OC. Her flames, her meeting with Ice Prince and her adventures; all included. Told from her mouth, evolves around Hitsugaya. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

1

"Just no way. Love is too big for me. Besides, i have pretty much to deal with without this kind of things anyway."

That's just what he said with his usual stolid smile, his eyes closed, as he dealed with the paperwork mass on the table. He was pretty much right and also pretty honest to himself. This was just the way he was. Whatever way she looked at it, he couldn't take having another big weakness like a lover. Also there was an issue like blushing, which there was no way when it was about him. She still would love to see him like that, though. It would just be so much fun!

"Eeh, captain, you're being unusually soft today. What's gotten into you?" chirped Matsumoto.

"So, being in a good mood is weird for me, huh? I should have known." Hitsugaya sighed and turned to her side with his usual icy attitude. "Be a good lieutenant just once and finish this up for me."

Matsumoto sighed, mumbling 'maybe i shouldn't have asked.." to herself, sulking. Hopefully, she'd find a way to slack off. It was easy with this captain. He'd never do anything but to yell "MATSUMOTOOO!" and give her death glares anyway. He was, of course, warm hearted, actually – this didn't mean she wasn't getting creeps when his deep teal eyes pierced through her with invisible lightning bolts, though.

"What will you do, captain? Sleep again?" she chirped again, then looked up to the ceiling as if she'd just realized something and grinned. "Oh, i see…"

Chills went down his spine. She was definitely thinking something he wouldn't like – _again. _"What is it?" he asked, trying to keep his voice cool but miserably failing to do so. Matsumoto smiled with a fake understanding face and patted his shoulder.

"If that's your goal, captain, I would recommend you to drink more milk. You will grow up faster that way."

A vein popped on his forehead as he grumbled "Oh, shut up." He pushed her hand away and walked out of the 10th division building. Really, she would always, always succeed in annoying him. It could mean that he was stil kind of sore about his height; though he _had_ grown three inches since he'd last measured his height. Well, it was really out of blue but he had a desire to measure it in the morning. That was probably why he was in a quite good mood. And she had to ruin it. Yeah. Great.

He wandered around for a while since he had nothing else to do. He definitely was aware of the fact that Matsumoto wouldn't even touch the paperwork so there was an all-nighter ahead; but he sometimes had to leave things to his lieutenant – who could be so very annoying sometimes – and take a break. And maybe Matsumoto would actually finish the work to his surprise, who knows? Well, too much to ask. She would definitely run off somewhere.

He walked under the sun for a little and raised his head to look at it, his eyes narrowed from the light. It was unusually hot. He definitely didn't like heat, but it was a little too much for a spring evening – especially in march, he wouldn't expect the sun to burn his skin as it was close to setting. _Maybe it's just my luck._ He continued walking at a slow pace in the shadow – he didn't like the burning sensation the sun had given him. Surely, there was something weird going on with weather this year. It was still snowing until the week before. It didn't actually bother him, though.

He wondered what Hinamori was doing, thought of looking for her and decided not to. She was, unlike his slack-off Lieutenant, probably pretty occupied with work. His eyes unconsciously started looking for a cool place to take a short nap. He would probably wake up at twilight to find the paperwork untouched, anyway. He'd had better rest while he had time to.

...

The Kid wandered through the roads of Soul Society aimlessly.

"Hey, what a bum!"

"The new kid."

"When did he come, yesterday?"

"Or was it this morning?"

"Why do you even care?"

"Moron, don't stare!"

"Does he have a family yet?"

"What's his name?"

"He looks so damn pitiful."

"Take him in, then."

"Who the hell would?"

"Does he know how to talk?"

"Kid, you're so miserable."

The Kid raised his head for the first time. His deep purple eyes studied the stranger smiling a few inches away from his face: the woman who had a few wrinkles on her face, with her dirty blond hair pulled back in a tight bun, her very light green eyes twinkling with pity and warmth. She was the first to talk to him and not gossip behind his back. He stared at her blankly.

"I'm Jeannie Jess. They call me just Jin, though. What's your name?"

The Kid stayed blank again. No voice came out of his mouth, neither did he make any of his muscles move. The woman shuffled his already messy, shoulder length, earth colored hair and smiled even more warm.

"You are probably very thirsty. Let's get you some water. Do you mind if i call you Muchi? I've just learned that it means 'clueless'. We'll change it the second you decide to talk. Alright?"

The Kid didn't respond. The woman took his hand and practically dragged him behind her cheerfully.

"Well, come on, now! I just want you to be a part of my family!" she chirped as she pulled him inside of a mostly rundown but pretty big house. There were at least ten kids inside. All of them cheered when they got in. The kid felt something squeeze his head. He touched his head to feel what it was and felt nothing but his own skin. He blinked his eyes a few times before starting to study the faces.

"Alright, kids; time to welcome our newest guest! We don't know his name, so we call him Muchi-chan!"

The kids cheered again and ran towards The Kid. They were all trying to greet him first, so there was a confusion about which voice belonged to whom.

"Hello there!"

"Welcome to House of Miserables, dude!"

"Cut the crap!"

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"I'm Shinri!"

"The Dumbest!"

"Stop pushing, you're gonna crush Muchi-chan!"

"Yo, I'm Kai-dono!"

"Who's the dono, you damned bastard!"

"Don't keep swearing you trash-mouth!"

"Wow, what pretty eyes! Where were you from?"

"How did you die, illness?"

"Sure, he does look sick even now!"

"No, he must have been shot; he looks shocked!"

"That's only because he _is _shocked!"

"Ow, don't hit my head!"

"I'm Dalen, and welcome!"

"Get the fuck away!"

"Cut the swearing, dammit!"

"Look who's talking!"

"I'm Akaru!"

"Hey, tell us your real name!"

"Can you talk?"

"He definitely can't while you're so noisy."

"Shut the hell up, hag!"

"_Hey!_ Stop calling me hag!"

"Hag, hag, hag, hag, hag!"

"Cut it out!"

"Uwaaah! You bit me!"

"Cannibal hag!"

The Kid closed his ears with his hands, closing his eyes tight and bowing his head. There was something pounding in his head. His eyes were starting to burn. He wanted the voices to end.

"Hey, are you okay, Muchi?" the woman's voice washed his ears. The other voices seemed to have calmed down. He looked up to see her green eyes deepened with concern. She patted his head gently.

"Let's get you some water and let you rest for a while. You seem tired." The woman said in a low, silky voice that soothed him somehow. She picked him up easily and put him on the table to sit. Then she got him a glass of water. He took the water, took a little sip first, then a bigger gulp, then he started drinking it down hugrily. When he finished, the woman refilled it. He gulped down five glasses of water before he finally stopped. When he was finished, the woman picked him up again to put him in a soft and comfortable grass bed. He felt his eyes close naturally and instantly drifted off to sleep.

Screams echoed in the middle of the night. They were so loud that they could be heard from miles away. They were so painful that made anyone who'd heard feel like they were being mercilessly tortured. They were so harsh, so ghastly, so freezing. It was like they could reach even the ends of the sky.

The woman ran to The Kid's bed to see him screaming his lungs out, kicking the blanket and the futon endlessly, squeezing the sheets, banging his head into his pillow. There was a heavy, burnt smell in the air. One of the older kids lit a candle that allowed them to see what was happening.

Most of the kids started to puke; the olders barely holding back the urge to do so.

The woman closed his mouth with both hands as her eyes opened wide; her whole body trembling.

After getting over the first shock of the sight in front of her, she held The Kid harshly from his shoulders, her eyes teary, and started shaking him brutally: desperate to wake him up, still careful not to touch the badly burnt, blistered skin on the lower halfs of his limbs that was oozing out blood.


	2. Chapter 2

2

There were gossips going on and on around about the strange kid screaming at night. No one seemed to know who actually the kid was, but it seemed that they had a good guess.

There had been bagillion of rumors going on around the Rukongai about a burning kid. It was said that the kid was neither male, nor female. It was just a kid. It was also said that he had burned down a few buildings when he had been angry. Of course, those were the rumors that no one actually believed. Stil there was something true behind the rumors. That was exactly what she was looking for.

Matsumoto Rangiku wandered around the place where was said to be the strange kid's hometown. Oddly enough, there was not one kid around. Even the adults looked pretty tired and they probably were, if the latest rumor she's heard had been true: she had heard that the kid kept screaming each and every night, waking every single person in the neighboorhood up with terror to find themselves woken up at the same suffering voice.

She was walking around in causal clothes with her hair pulled back into one neat braid and she was also wearing a hat so no one would actually know her. She knew it was troublesome when a famous captain or lieutenant went out to the Rukongai to search for something. People would be… well, she didn't know, she couldn't point it out but there was a difference. Maybe it was the eyes on her clevage when she wore her uniform that made the difference; even though she didn't mind the eyes(or actually enjoyed them) it wasn't good when she didn't want to attract so much attention. Today her outfit certainly didn't show her clevage – though it wasn't able to do a good job at hiding how absurdly big her breasts were. Again, it was more innocent than her shinigami uniform.

She carefully approached one of the citizens. The man was pretty old and looked good-natured except for the purple rings under his eyes.

"Sorry, mister," she started off sweetly, "do you know about the kid that screams-"

"Don't look for him, little miss," the old man cut her off, "that kid is nothing but trouble. He will surely bring you bad luck, too."

"Well, i'm interested in that kid. So, can you tell me where he lives?"

"I insist, little miss, don't look for him." Said old man, persistently.

"But, mister-"

"He's from my house." Said a deep and tired woman voice from not very far away. Matsumoto looked her way. She had dirty-blond hair that was pulled back into a very messy bun. Her eyes were a very light and soft color of green but lacked life. The woman was definitely very tired and fed up with this exhaustion.

"Then," said Matsumoto, smiling with all her might, "I'm inviting myself in. May I see the kid?"

"Naku isn't home. Naku's never home at mornings. That kid just disappears and never comes back until the sun goes down." Said the woman in a cold, soulless voice that would be very beautiful if it was filled with warmth.

"Well, i have some questions."

"I know what you're gonna ask. He never lets us sleep. He always screams his lungs out till we actually wake him up. If we don't wake him up ocassionally he'll fall asleep again and start screaming again. Eventually the lower parts of his limbs will burn; until dawn, that is. We bandage the burns and he disappears again. He doesn't let me wash him. He doesn't tell me his dreams. The other kids are starting to get traumatized, so i cannot keep him for longer, i guess; but anyways. He doesn't ever talk. The only time we actually hear his voice are when he screams. We don't know his name so we had named him Mucchi, but changed it to Naku since he keeps crying out. That's all."

"No, that's not all." A little kid from inside the house interfered. Matsumoto carefully entered the building and then squated down right next to the kid that was sitting in her bed. She looked like only five with her short blond curls and big blue eyes.

"What more do you know?" Matsumoto asked in a sweet voice.

"I know that he's in pain. He doesn't want to disturb us, but he had nowhere else to go. It's not that he doesn't want to talk; he can't talk. Something is not letting him talk. He brings us water sometimes, we don't know where he'd find it. And when mother isn't around he eats some kind of fruit, but it's like he's hungry, he needs it. He doesn't share it with us. Maybe he's sick." Said the little girl with worry painted on her face.

"What's your name, sweety?" asked Matsumoto with a loving smile on her face.

"Elisabeth. Elisabeth Gennie."

"Thanks for telling me this." She patted the girl's head with clear symphaty, her blond curls scattered all over her face. She blushed.

"What will you do with Naku-chan?" she asked curiously.

"Nothing bad, darling; don't worry. We will try to solve his problem. Now, sleep. You look very tired."

The girl smiled gratefully and after saying "Thank you, sister!" she went back to her sleep. It took her only a few seconds before sleeping again. It was like she had woken up just to tell her that. She was definitely a fine girl.

Matsumoto thanked the woman – which she didn't know the name of and didn't want to ask – and went on her journey to look for the weird kid again. She didn't know where he could've gone, so she would have a hard time finding him. In worst case, she'd go back to the house after the sunset. Not too much of a problem. She was going to find out what was going on. Well, this meant slacking off of another day's paperwork; but, well, who cares? Her captain would most definitely finish them off by himself and she'd be alright with just a "MATSUMOTOOO!" along with the invisible lightning bolts that shot through her. Not too bad.

She wandered around, not exactly sure of what to do, hoping that maybe she would come across a clue of where the kid could be. Though she was sure she wouldn't call him "Naku" when(or if) she found him, no she wouldn't. What kind of name was that anyway? What kind of person would name a child like that? What a sad name.

She was pretty close to a burnt forest (_probably burnt while some hollow attack, _she thought) when she felt a wild, foreign reiatsu. It was nothing like she'd ever felt before. It was nothing like a hollow, definitely; but it also wasn't some kind of familiar shinigami reiatsu. It was probably a raw spiritual energy coming from someone who couldn't control it yet. The situation definitely reminded her of some similar situation in the past. She smiled despite the intensity of the reiatsu. She was either really close to a soul with his raw power flowing out or a little far away from some really powerful reiatsu gone out of control.

She sped up towards the source of the reiatsu. It faded away as she closed the distance and disappeared completely. She stopped uncomfortably when she reached the forest and looked around. She was looking for someting – anything – that could release that much reiatsu. She walked around between the burnt bodies of the trees. She was feeling pretty restless. Something about the forest – or something inside the forest, she didn't know – was disturbing her. Then she saw the silhouette of something; something tiny, behind one tree and _moving._ She approached it and as she did, she discovered that it was because of the smoke around that the figure looked just as a silhouette. It looked like a child sitting next to a burnt tree. She closed the distance between them and stood just in front of the kid that was sitting with his bandaged legs pulled to his stomach, his bandaged arms wrapped around his knees and his face buried in his arms.

"Hey, kid, what are you doing here?"

...

The Kid didn't respond to the voice coming form above. He kept on trying to focus on the burnt feeling inside him. It was as if the feeling would materilize and burn him when he was sleeping, so he wanted to destroy the feeling as well as the burnt nightmares he had every single night. This had been the only thing he had ever thought ever since he had come to this place. Other than that, he had not thought at all. He was a blank.

"Kid, are you ok?" said the voice from above again. He felt a warm weight on his head and he instinctively raised his head just enough to see what was touching him. He saw light skin framed with orange hair and his eyes plainly locked on the light blue ones of the woman in front of him. He didn't respond and just looked deep into the refreshing lightness.

"What have you been doing here, kid?" asked the woman again. He found the voice somehow soothing. It wasn't bad. It wasn't wrong. It was warm, just as Mother's was once. He realized something heavy inside him was gone. Something started burning his insides again. He tried to remember from the words he had heard. Could it be the so called "i missed you" feeling? The fire in his stomach grew and spreaded again. He automatically concentrated on the feeling to keep it locked in his stomach. He had discovered that if he had let the fire reach his hands and feet, it burned them. He didn't want to be hurt. As the fire grew more and more intense in him, he used the easing color of the eyes as a source of power and kept pushing the fire back into his stomach.

...

Matsumoto looked at the kid, not believing her senses. How could so much and so wild reiatsu come out of such a helpless kid? Well, it could be that she had judged wrong and the kid wasn't so helpless actually; but if the power was so dense even when it was so raw, this kid could even surpass Yamamato Genryusai-dono after being trained. It was also possible that it was so dense _because_ it was raw, though.

She shook her head. Whas that the kid the woman had talked about? She doubted they could stand the kid any longer. If the kid let out reiatsu as dense as this at home, it would probably maket hem feel like they were being crushed – they were just normal souls after all. He needed to be taken to Seireitei immediately.

She looked at the face of him more carefully. The emptines that she had seen before was replaced by some intense concentration. His deep purple eyes that were like two black holes back then were now drowning, enchanting and completely mysterious. She didn't look away as it seemed like his reiatsu calmed down a little when she was looking into his eyes.

"We have to take you to Seireitei, kid. You are meant to become a shinigami. This power may destroy everything if left alone. Do you understand me?"

The kid kept on looking without responding.

"Can you hear me, kid?"

The kid's expression and the flow of reiatsu changed a little, as if to say "of course i can!"

"Can you speak?"

There was no response. Again. She decided that kid could clearly hear her and understand her a little; but he couldn't talk and since he could scream, it wasn't because of some phsycal problem. She also decided that feelings affected the flow of reiatsu. She didn't know what kind of feelings made him release so much at once, but she'd find out once he talked.

The density of reiatsu decreased and gradually disappeared again. She patted the kid's head again.

"I see you can't talk to me yet. Let's settle with nods and head shakes. Did you understand me?"

The kid nodded. Big improvement. At least she could get answers to her yes-or-no questions.

"Do you have any stuff at home?"

The kid shook his head.

"I have to take you with me. This means taking you away from your place. We will infrorm them afterwards, are you okay with that?"

The kid hesitated for a second, and then slowly nodded.

"Are your arms and legs burnt?"

The kid nodded again and broke the eye contact. He was clearly affected by it a lot. Well, it must have hurt a lot. But she had to ask one more question.

"Did you burn them yourself unintentionally?"

The kid stayed motionless. She wasn't so sure of what that meant, so she chose to think he didn't know or couldn't figure out. She stroked his shouler-length hair.

"Don't worry, you'll be all better, little kid. But, what should i call you? Should i keep calling you Naku? Do you really cry that much?"

The kid shook his head.

"Then, what am i supposed to call you? Shall i name you myself?"

The kid stayed motionless. She took it as yes.

"Then… let's call you Fuji. Do you know what it means? It's a purple flower. But since it's also the name of a mountain, it fits you well. Aren't you also all brown and purple?" Matsumoto smiled sweetly. The kid stayed motionless for a little, then nodded lightly.

"Alright, then, Fuji. Let's go. Can you stand? Can you walk?"

The kid got on his feet as a response. He looked in Matsumoto's eyes with an empty face. She had noticed that it was like that during the conversation too – what kind of conversation would be _that_ one sided, she wondered – but had pretended not to notice. She was starting to get really curious about what had happened to the kid. She held his hand in a gentle yet firm grip.

"Come on, then. Let's go."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the very late chapter, I'm a slow writer and when the studying interrupts me too, I get a little too(impossibly) slow. It's still in the start of the story, I'm just preparing the plot of it. The real fun is yet to begin. When I'm finished with the start of it, I'll try to make it fast and swift; I don't know if I'll be able to though. Oh well. Hope y'all enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

3

"So, is this the excuse you have for slacking off today?"

Hitsugaya definitely looked fed up with her sloth. Yeah, one of the seven sins, as the humans liked to say; one that annoyed him the most.

"It's not an excuse! It's real!" she protested, frowning.

"You've gotten really creative, haven't you?" he sighed, leaving the unfinished paperwork on the table and laying down on the couch. "Now, go finish them."

"You do not believe me?" she whined.

"Please, i'm immune to you now; don't underestimate me. And that puppy-eyes trick won't work on me." he said with his eyes closed, clearly intending to take a nap as he got her to work.

"But captain-"

"Shut up and finish your work, Matsumoto! You've reached the limits of indolence." he snarled.

"Great…" she sighed as she sat to finish the rest of the paperwork. He enjoyed the sight of his lieutenant working before he closed his eyes again. It definitely was a rare sight. It usually would be exact opposite: Matsumoto would be sleeping while he finished the work. Well, even he had limits of tolerance. She had to do her work at least once in a while.

...

Unohana hurried to the new kid's room. Since he had to be kept hidden for a while, she was going to examine the kid herself. He was an interesting case, as she was told by the messenger. Matsumoto definitely was thinking that she would be interested in the kid. It was almost never that Matsumoto would actually contact her directly and ask for a favor while wanting her to take a quick look at a new kid.

As she was told, the kid was almost 30 years old and had burns at the lower halfs of his limbs – bad ones. According to the information Matsumoto got from various places of Rukongai, he had been burning out of blue at his sleep for like fifteen days. As she said, it was like he was being burned by some invisible flames and it didn't stop unless he was waken up. He screamed in his sleep and clearly was in pain, but didn't wake up by himself. Matsumoto was assuming he had run away from home when the nightburns started so she was going to investigate it further about his family when she got herself some free time. Unohana was also informed that the kid had to eat in order to survive, so he definitely had Shinigami potential in him. _Nice case._

She turned a corner and quickly went into the room from a door that was impossible to notice if you weren't looking carefully. The Kid's room was pretty hidden from many eyes. He definitely would be showed to the superiors in the end; but Matsumoto had insisted he would stay a secret at least for a while. Unohana knew she had something in her mind, so she had agreed. Anyhow, she was going to report if there was something too unusual about the kid – Fuji, for now. She was also informed that the kid didn't talk and give response so the real name was a mystery and Matsumoto had named him Fuji.

She pulled the white curtain to the side and entered the kid's compartment – well, literally. The kid was sitting in his bed detached, watching the sky through his window. She sensed an unusual reiatsu leaking out of him just a little. Next to his bed was Isane, her lieutenant, healing him. She noticed the bandages on his arms, went yellow because of the liquid oozing out of her burns. Even from far she could tell by the wavering in the reiatsu, his condition was far from stable. She wondered what could cause this in such a young and helpless child.

"Hello, Isane." she said, smiling.

"Ah; Captain!" the tall woman jumped on her feet. "I was trying to heal the burns just now. They are healing just like normal burns after they're rid of the alien reiatsu."

"Alien? What do you mean by that?" Unohana asked, concerned.

"The reiatsu covering the burns doesn't match with his..."

"The name is Fuji, as I'm told."

"Alright. It doesn't match with Fuji's reiatsu. It's as if someone has burnt him using kidou." Isane finished.

"I doubt there's a kidou that burns only the lower halfs of limbs. It _is_ good that we know how to heal him now, though, we must find the root of it." said Unohana with a serious face. "Let me see."

She examined the kid more throughly. What she found out wasn't much more than what Isane had just told. Kid had an unstable reiatsu, carefully suppressed by his will; but he was unable to control it fully. He must have been training by himself, she thought. She also agreed with Matsumoto about the great Shinigami potential in him. The burns were covered with some alien reiatsu that seemed very familiar to her. It was wilder, more hollow-like, but probably the kid's own reiatsu. Had he been doing this to himself unconsciously? What was making him burn like this? It could be because of some psychological problem the kid had. She remembered Matsumoto saying he was burning in his sleep. Maybe it was nightmares. Well, this diagnosis was definitely a high possibility considering the kid couldn't talk and was somehow detached from everything happening around him. It was probably some kind of psychological problem. It'd be better if she knew what he was like before the burnings started; this way she'd be more certain. She still had to have him observed through the night, though. She had to see for herself what was happening.

"Isane?" she said.

"Yes, Captain?" Isane answered immediately.

"Can you please ask Lieutenant Matsumoto to investigate this a little further? We may need to know his medical history. Ask her to look for the parents and find out the details about his lifestyle before these burns. And, please call Hanatarou here to change the bandages. Make sure he doesn't know about the details. He must be resting now."

"Yes."

Isane quickly made her way out of the room. Unohana examined the detached kid for a while, trying to figure out more about the alien reiatsu and the connection it had with his own reiatsu. There were just a little of the alien reiatsu left since Isane had cleaned them from the burns in order to heal him, so she couldn't find out much more. The kid was mostly healed, but there would probably be scars left.

"Umm, Captain Unohana..." said Hanatarou's voice behind her, hesitantly as always. She turned around and smiled at him.

"Come in, Hanatarou."

Hanatarou came in, looking around with his usual sleepy eyes.

"Isane-san brought me here, saying I should take care of one kid..." said Hanatarou, again hesitantly.

"Yes, that's right. This kid here is named Fuji. He is a little detached and has burns. You are responsible of him for now. Please take care of him and don't get out of the room unless something urgent happens."

"OK!"

Hanatarou hurried to the kid and started changing the dirty bandages with new, sterile ones. After that he would start healing the rest of the burns and keep watch. Unohana walked out of the room. She was wondering if she should report Fuji or not; but she'd have to eventually. She was going to wait for the night and decide how urgent things were after seeing what would happen.

...

Hitsugaya stretched a little and got up from the couch he had been sleeping on. It was almost impossible to believe he'd sleep for so long, it was already getting dark. He was all stiff.

"Oh, captain! You're up! I was getting all worried!"

He felt the too familiar softness pressed against the back of his head along with the "forever flirty" voice of his lieutenant. A vein popped on his forehead as he pushed her away.

"Drop it, Matsumoto!" he growled.

"You're so cold, Captain! I was worried for you here!" she whined like a puppy.

"Shut up." he said as he glanced on the table, expecting to see unfinished paperwork still there; but he didn't see what he'd expected.

"Haaaah, and I even finished my paperwork! It was a real torture!" she kept on, "At least praise me, captain!"

"It wasn't even half of the amount you should be doing." he sighed. He had gotten enough of her whining to get used to it but somehow she still managed to get on his nerves. He honestly thought she should be awarded for such performance.

"You're breaking my heart, Captain..." she whined in her most flirty voice he was so used to hear.

"Who knew your heart could actually be broken?" he muttered to himself loud enough for her to hear.

"Jeez, Captain! What's with you today?" she snapped suddenly, "You don't believe what i say, make me do the paperwork while you sleep and then you insult my little vulnerable heart."

Hitsugaya snorted. Little vulnerable heart? Matsumoto? They didn't sound right when used at the same sentence.

"Stop it, Captain..." she whined again. "I worked my hardest, at least praise my efforts a little!"

She was definitely loving this game of hers. She had always loved irritating him, making him snap. He sometimes wondered if she actually liked hearing him shout "MATSUMOTOOO!" at her. He also wondered why she was still alive when he had wanted to struck her with lightning bolts of 5000 volts so often.

"Drop it." he said again. For a while Matsumoto stayed silent and then turned to him again with her most charming smile.

"Say, Captain," she said with a silky voice, "may I be excused from paperwork tomorrow since I've done almost five times more than I would do in one day today?"

_Who are you and what have you done to Matsumoto?_ Was what he well would like to say; but that definitely wouldn't be rational. "And what makes you ask that?" he asked instead. Matsumoto smirked.

"See? When I act all obedient and good even you are worried." she said grinning at him.

"Oh, shut up!" Hitsugaya growled again.

"So, Captain," Matsumoto said, with her most flirty voice again, "don't you wonder what I'm up to? Hmm?"

"No." He answered clearly.

"Really," Matsumoto sighed, "You spoil all the fun! And I was going to invite you to the search I'll be doing so you'd be saved from work for one day. Even you need to take a break!"

"And who makes me work twice as more by not doing her work, I wonder..." he murmured.

"So, what do you say?" Matsumoto asked. She had clearly heard him but was pretending not to have heard.

"What are you searching for?" Hitsugaya asked back instead of answering her right away. He knew well from his past experiences that answering her without knowing every little detail would be a fatal mistake. Also, he knew he didn't want to skip his paperwork for something minor since he'd have to do more afterwards.

"Fuji's family. If I can learn more about him, he may get better, after all."

"And who is Fuji?"

"The kid I've told you about. The kid I've been searching for and found. I've brought him here, as I've already told you. Though you definitely didn't believe me. I wonder what I've done wrong for you not to believe me. Setting that aside, the kid is very interesting and I want to keep on helping him. Oh, wait; I've already told you that too!"

"I get it, don't repeat it so much." Hitsugaya growled. Really, whose fault was it that he couldn't bring himself to believe her when it came to skipping paperwork? He sighed again. "So, why do you want to search for his past so much?"

"Shall I show you something very interesting, Captain? I believe there's gonna be a big uproar at the secret room of Captain Unohana tonight. I also believe you'll understand what I mean once you witness it." She chirped with her sweetest voice, looking pretty amused about something he didn't know.

"It's already almost night." Hitsugaya claimed, calmly. Matsumoto grinned at him and walked out under the moonlight. He followed her quietly as she led the way to fourth division.

* * *

A/N: Wow, it's been such a long time since I uploaded something. Actually, it's been such a long time since I last wrote anything.I was just too busy with the exams and the stuff I had to memorize. I barely had time for myself at all. so, this is some small morsel; hope you like this. review please, I appreciate them a lot. thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

4

Hanatarou woke up with a little whining coming from the side of the window. He looked around to see where he was, then he remembered he was in charge of the kid for the night. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. The task was harder than it seemed. There was some weird energies that prevented him from healing the kid further and he had to clean them up which tired him out – a lot. But the kid – what was the name, Fuji? – was now all healthy. Or wasn't he?

Hanatarou ran to the kid as he finally realized the whining was coming from the kid who was sleeping not so peacefully next to the window. It was nothing much, though; even though he was whining, nothing too harsh seemed to be going on. Maybe it was the anesthetics they had given him so he'd sleep – he had refused to sleep for a long time. He opened one of the bandages (which weren't very necessary now that he was healed) to make sure he was still completely healthy and not burning. Vice-captain Isane had informed him of the burns when she called her, warning him not to tell Captain Unohana. He had obeyed that. He was glad that she told him, though. This way he could make sure if the kid was alright or not.

There seemed nothing wrong with him, but he was still whining, louder and louder every minute. Maybe he was having a nightmare, Hanatarou thought. He wondered if he was supposed to wake him up. Or was he alright like as he was? Still anxious about what he should do, he returned to his seat and sat on the edge of the chair. There was no way he could relax. He wondered if he was supposed to call Captain Unohana or Vice-Captain Isane. He knew almost nothing about the kid after all and he was pretty much sure he couldn't do much for him if something was happening. Then again, it could simply be a nightmare, too. He wouldn't want to disturb his captain for such a simple thing. It was a tough choice. He decided to do nothing and keep observing how the kid was doing for a while. He could always inform Captain if the kid got any worse.

The exact second he relaxed on his chair, the kid started screaming. Quietly. He was in so much pain, and he was shaking like crazy as if he was having a seizure; but he didn't make any sound except for a quiet scream. The arm Hanatarou had unbandaged just now was already starting to blister. The kid was burning, again. He panicked, not knowing what to do, and ran out of the room, to the shinigami that was supposed to be on duty right outside the door. The little guy was dozed off, and looked around stupidly for a few seconds when Hanatarou suddenly came out.

"Go call Captain Unohana and hurry up please!" Hanatarou said quickly, then added "It's very important, very urgent."

"Okay." said the shinigami and practically flew away. Hanatarou quickly returned to the kid's side. He was now seriously seizing and his quiet screams had turned into moans. The blood oozing out of the blisters could clearly be seen. Hanatarou attempted to stop the burning or at least heal the blisters; but there was some weird reiatsu covering the kid and burning his limbs. He couldn't stop or clean the reiatsu, the flow was far too strong. He tried to shake the kid awake, but the anesthetics were still effective; so he couldn't wake him up either. He injected the kid with ephinephrines in order to wake him up, but the condition wouldn't change. There was nothing more he could do, so he decided to keep trying to hold back the reiatsu flow even though he couldn't completely stop it; it seemed to slow down the damage it was making.

"Ohh, the door's open! How lucky!" chirped a flirty voice from the door, "come on, he's here!" Vice-captain Matsumoto entered the room and her expression froze the second she saw the scene, blocking Captain Hitsugaya's path unintentionally. He had definitely heard the moans of the kid, though.

"Vice-captain Matsumoto! Captain Hitsugaya!" Hanatarou greeted them hurriedly, "Could you two please help me push back the reiatsu until Captain Unohana comes? He's started to burn again because of it and I can't hold back the flow by myself."

...

Burn? Had he just said burn?

The time seemed to have stopped. Even though his view was mostly blocked by Matsumoto, Hitsugaya could still see the blisters on the kid's arm. He had thought Matsumoto was simply telling some creative lie before; but she was right, he had totally believed her after witnessing it with his own eyes. And he also felt the hollowish reiatsu particles in the air, assumed it was the alien reiatsu she had talked about. So it was the thing burning the kid like that. Then if they could somehow push it back, the kid would be temporarily okay, huh? And if it didn't work, he could always freeze the limbs, preventing them from being damaged any further.

He quickly pushed Matsumoto to the side as time returned to its original speed and hurried to the kid, thankful that he knew the basics of healing even though he had never been in 4th squad. The reiatsu flow around the kid was a lot more clear now that he was close, it sent a cold shiver down his spine. It was raw, it was harsh, it was cruel... and it was gone.

Hitsugaya's eyes opened with surprise as the reiatsu suddenly disappeared when he had just simply touched the kid's arm. Was it him? Or had it simply ended just like that? The limbs were already in a pretty bad condition, so maybe that was all. When he started to pull back his hand, the reiatsu started to come back too; weaker, but still there. He quickly held the kid's wrist to stop it again.

"It stopped..." Hanatarou sighed with relief.

"Did it..." started Matsumoto started, but didn't finish it. She opened the lights instead.

"It seems to have reacted to Captain Hitsugaya's reiatsu" Hanatarou explained as simple as it could be.

Matsumoto snorted, then chuckled, looking mischeviously at Hitsugaya, "Well, it wouldn't be that weird if Fuji turned out to be a fire type then, exact opposite of yours, huh?"

"It would also explain why he keeps burning; he may not be able to control the reiatsu at night and it goes wild." said Unohana. Hitsugaya hadn't noticed when she had entered the room, she might have entered just a few seconds ago.

"Captain Unohana!" Hanatarou greeted her with both relief and gladness. Unohana smiled at him sweetly.

"It seems you found yourself some aid."

"We were just gonna visit, Captain," Matsumoto interrupted the conversation, "and we just happened to come when he started burning."

"Is that so? Isn't that lucky?"

"Yes, very lucky!" said Hanatarou.

"Matsumoto," Unohana said, "I reported the kid to Commander; I didn't want to keep it hidden any longer."

"So? What does he say?"

"He wants a detailed report on this and maybe he'll let him stay until he's healed enough to go to Shinigami Academy." Unohana smiled sweetly.

"Okay. I hope he will be able to stay." Matsumoto smiled too, "I'm kinda attached to him; he reminds me of a certain someone, I wonder why." She chirped and glanced at Hitsugaya mischeviously. Again. Hitsugaya felt a vein pop on his forehead. What exactly was alike between them anyway?

"Oh, and Fuji woke up too!" Matsumoto chirped happily. Hitsugaya automatically looked at the kid that was starting to sit up, not breaking contact with the wrist he was holding gently in case the reiatsu came back.

"You can pull your hand back now, Captain Hitsugaya." said Unohana, walking towards them, "He won't burn now that he's awake, at least that's what i was told."

"He?" Hitsugaya thought, pulling back his hand. He looked at the kid with doubt and watched them as Unohana examined the burns and took samples of the reiatsu for the report. Then she started healing the kid.

"You know, you're very lucky, Fuji." Matsumoto started talking to the kid, "you'll probably be a first class with this kind of reiatsu."

"Right," Hanatarou agreed with her, "He's kind of in pain now, but it'll be good when he becomes a shinigami. It's so lucky" then smiled at the kid, "right, Fuji?"

The kid didn't reply and just kept on staring out of the window as if no one had just talked. Silence took over.

"Despite the burns, this little boy has a very strong body. It's good for us when we have to heal him." Unohana told Matsumoto as she kept on healing.

"Wait," Hitsugaya interrupted, not able to keep quiet any longer, "Isn't this kid a girl? Why do you keep referring her as 'him'?"

The kid suddenly turned to him, deep purple eyes wide with surprise.

"I didn't feel any need to check the gender since Matsumoto said the patient was a young boy." said Unohana with doubt. "Do you think Fuji is female, Captain Hitsugaya?"

"Isn't that what it looks like?" Hitsugaya replied, "I think you should check if you're unsure, Captain Unohana. But first, why don't we simply ask her?"

"Because Fuji can't talk?" Matsumoto said and rolled her eyes, "Geez, Captain..."

Hitsugaya sighed and turned his head to find the kid looking at him with curious but matte eyes. It didn't seem like she was so frozen as Matsumoto had told him. They could have made a mistake, couldn't they?

"Hey, what's your name, girl?" he tried, looking directly in the kid's eyes. He didn't know why exactly he was doing this, but he felt he couldn't let it go simply by believing she couldn't talk.

"Geez, Captain!" Matsumoto complained. "Why don't you just trust me? What's with you?"

"You can understand what I'm saying, right?" he tried again, ignoring Matsumoto's complaint, "Can you tell me your name, at least?"

The kid blinked and took a sharp breath; her left arm that was being treated by Unohana twithced a little, her face tensed and she blinked, but she didn't avert her eyes. Hitsugaya glanced shortly at Unohana.

"Could you be gentler please, Captain Unohana? It seems like she's hurt by it."

"I am being gentle." said Unohana simply. Hitsugaya looked back at the kid's eyes.

"So? Will you tell me your name?" Hitsugaya tried one last time.

"Geez," Matsumoto started, drawing Hitsugaya's attention again, "he won't answ-"

"Se-..." the kid interrupted her sentence. Hitsugaya immediately gave his full attention back to her, waiting for her to finish.

"Sei... Seiko... Seiko... Seiko..."

"Is that your name?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Un!" she nodded strongly, "Seiko!"

Hitsugaya glanced at Matsumoto to see her surprised face and mentally smirked at her before returning his gaze to the kid.

"So, can you tell me your gender, Seiko?"

Seiko tilted her head slightly. It seemed she didn't know the word yet. Maybe it was because she was mostly isolated from the others before.

"Are you a boy or a girl?" he repeated his question.

"Gi...rl?" Seiko tried slowly as she tilted her head more to the side.

"Do you know what "girl" means?" he asked just to confirm.

Seiko looked at Matsumoto and Unohana, then looked back at Hitsugaya to slowly nod full of doubt. It was clear what she meant.

"Well of course they're different. You're just a child and they're overly-grown women..." Hitsugaya said, then snorted, "I hope you don't grow up to be like Matsumoto." he added quietly.

"Mo..to?" Seiko asked curiously. Matsumoto skipped next to them.

"I'm Matsumoto, Seiko-chan, and my name is Rangiku; but you can call me Ran-chan." she chirped, patting Seiko's head.

"Ran-chan?" Seiko asked.

"Yes, that's right!" she ruffled her hair.

"Matsumoto, Captain Hitsugaya, can you let me heal her in peace now? I'll be putting her in your care anyway." Unohana interrupted, with a sweet smile and a sweet voice.

"Sure, alright!" Matsumoto chirped again as she skipped back. Hitsugaya followed her with light steps, then his haori stopped him from moving. He turned around and saw Seiko holding onto his haori with a pleading look.

"Is it alright if I stay with her instead?" he asked, somehow surprised by the strength of such a tiny girl. Unohana simply glanced at them for a short moment.

"Well, it wouldn't bother me too much, i guess; if my patient won't let you go that is." Unohana claimed, calmly. Hitsugaya returned to Seiko's side. Her deep purple eyes were fixed on him instead on the window now and they were full of curiosity.

"Na... name...?" she tried. Hitsugaya suddenly realized he hadn't told her his own name yet.

"My name?" he asked without a reason, "It's Hitsugaya Toushirou."

"Shiro?" she asked – or more like she tried. Matsumoto giggled, trying to hold back a tiny laughter as Hitsugaya twitched. He took a deep breath; she was probably just talking as much as she could. Well, at least she wouldn't call him 'Shiro-chan' like Hinamori liked to call him.

"You can't say 'Hitsugaya' anyway, can you?" he sighed slowly. Seiko tilted her head to the side a little, then shook her head. "Fine then, it's 'Shiro' until you can actually talk."

"Un!" she nodded. He was right, she just couldn't pronounce Toushirou right. She had never even talked before. It was the best she could manage. She would switch to "Hitsugaya" the second she could pronounce it anyway. She wasn't that impudent, no she wasn't. Now that her mind was mostly cleared from the nightmares and the burning, she could think and remember. There was just no way she was alone before and she actually had a fine family before the nightmares, even though she felt no attachment to them. She didn't know what happened ever since the nightmares started, everything was shaded and clouded. All she could remember were the flames; inside and outside. The point is, she could remember her past before that clearly: even though she couldn't get her voice out in the past, she had learned a lot and she had manners.

She stared straight at her new friend's profile. He was looking at her healer and her prickling arm. His eyes were just as cold as the frozen lake she had visited the year before. His hair was like snow piles. His skin was also cold like snow, or maybe she felt like that because she was usually warmer than normal. Moreover his energy was suppressing her weird energy that hurt her. He had also been the only one to fully understand her ever since she left home. She felt close to him. She respected him. He was almost like a god in front of her eyes.

Her healer swithced to her legs. She averted her eyes from her god to check out her arms. They were almost completely healed. Her skin was still a little pinky whitey and sensitive; but she was mostly okay since they'd heal up pretty soon. Mostly. If she didn't burn all over again or if there was no scars left; though there might be scars since her arms were so sensitive even now.

"Don't worry about the soreness or new burns, you'll completely heal in no time." her god assured her as if he'd just read her mind. She looked at his icy eyes filled with a warm light and felt his smile that didn't show on his face from his eyes. She remembered the fairytales her mother used to tell her, especially the one that was about a boy with a frozen time. She tried to smile; it almost felt like her face didn't remember how to smile, but she still did anyway, not sure how successful she was. Her god ruffled her hair tenderly. She felt a soft warmth spread to her whole body and some tickling pinpricks in her heart. She had definitely missed that tender feeling. She tugged on his white cape a little and buried her face in the soft fabric, loving the feeling of the cool hand patting her head.

* * *

A/N: it's been really long since I last updated something but here's the good news: i'll upload a new chapter every day till chapter 10. I have them ready in my hand; but I want to be reviewed for each chapter so i'll give it one day. no reviews? it's okay. more than one review? I'll be happy. so please review, thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

5

"So, there's this little problem, Captain; how will you be sleeping?"

"For Seiko? Well, I don't have a clear idea either; but I think if the reiatsu doesn't start overflowing in the first place, it won't go overboard and burn her. So I simply need to release the reiatsu I keep sealed and neutralize her current reiatsu."

"Yeah, that's an option ."

"We'll probably be visiting Mayuri the first thing in the morning, anyway."

"Wise decision." Matsumoto nodded, sipping her tea. Seiko was discharged from the 4th division and put under 10th division's care by Unohana; moreover, Seiko was ordered to be near Hitsugaya until she could control her reiatsu on her own so it was a given that she'd be staying at his apartment for a while. Matsumoto had insisted on walking Hitsugaya and Seiko home "since it was dark", though Hitsugaya didn't see any reason for it. When they had arrived she had had him invite her in and made herself and her captain some tea. His apartment was pretty normal, though people mostly wouldn't think that way. His walls were camel, the floor was covered with tatami mat and there were light green rugs here and there. He had a small bedroom with one futon and a wardrobe with the mirror inside. The living room had cream furniture sets and a giant bookshelf full of books and a little study desk. His kitchen was small and simple. The bath was also a traditional Japanese bath, nothing too far from normal; just with a shower added in for the times he'd need a quick bath. Seiko was now in the bathroom, awing to the shapely pieces of ice Hitsugaya had just created to keep her occupied for a while. He didn't want her to be around when they talked even though he knew there was no reason for it. He had just felt it'd be better.

"Then, do you have any spare futons?" Matsumoto asked.

"Well, I don't. I wasn't expecting a guest." he sipped his tea, "I'll sleep on the sofa tonight. I can get one tomorrow."

"I have a few spare futons, I could lend you one if you wish." she suggested.

"Yeah, that would save me the trouble, if you could bring it here tomorrow."

"Okay then, I will." Matsumoto chirped, then got more serious, "Do you have any idea what's up with her?"

Hitsugaya's eyes glanced at the sight that could be seen from the almost-closed door's gap, of the girl innocently playing with the ice that glinted under the moonlight that came from the dark bathroom's window. Then he looked back at his tea.

"I have some theories, but I don't know how accurate I am." he answered slowly, putting his tea on the table. "I have no information about her past, after all. I have no idea if it's simply psychological. It'll be especially hard to deal with, if that's all; since such problems take very long to get over or heal. If it isn't that simple, though..." he went silent and sipped his tea, "well, we'll leave the rest to Mayuri, he will figure this out." He left his cup on the table and stood up, "Now, if you excuse me I have a child to take care of."

"Sure you don't need some help?" Matsumoto chirped,.

"Yeah, I'm sure I don't want another guest to take care of." Hitsugaya said.

"Fine then, g'night to both of you." Matsumoto chirped again, then went away, dumping her glass on the table. Hitsugaya watched her take her leave, then went to the bathroom, opening the lights. Seiko immediately turned to him. Her face was like a stone, she didn't have any expressions but emptiness and innocence. Hitsugaya was sure, though, she had been having fun with the ice around... well, more like the water. So her leaking reiatsu was enough to melt his ice so quickly. She truly would make a marvellous shinigami, Hitsugaya thought, if she was completely healthy.

"Time to sleep." he ordered rather softly. Seiko looked at him with empty eyes for three whole seconds, then her face showed a slight expression of fear. She shook her head slowly, looking at Hitsugaya with pleading eyes.

"You can't live your whole life never sleeping." Hitsugaya said as he reached out to hold her hand to guide her out of the bath. Seiko grabbed his sleeve and tugged on it harshly.

"No!" she said with a cracked voice. Hitsugaya sighed and squated down to be on her eye level, ruffling her hair with his free hand which Seiko didn't tug on the sleeve of.

"It'll be okay, don't worry." he said softly, seeing the fear in her purple eyes disappear slowly, "I will be there and if you ever start burning again, I will stop it for you. Now, will you go to sleep?"

"Uu... pu...puo... pwomise?" Seiko tried. Hitsugaya unintentionally snorted softly at the wrong word, still respecting her efforts.

"Yeah, it's a promise. Will you go to sleep now?" he replied. Seiko nodded, looking at the floor and let go of his sleeve to hold his hand. Hitsugaya stood up again and lead her to the bedroom, then let go of her hand.

"Now we have to find you some pajamas. Good thing I'm not all that giant, it'll be useful for a change." he mumbled to himself, opening the wardrobe. After a little searching he pulled out a very pale blue, old nemaki. It was the pajamas he used to wear a few years ago. He didn't know why he still kept them; but now they were useful.

"Here it is." he handed the pajamas to Seiko, then remembered she wasn't so well with daily things. "Can you change by yourself, or should I help you change?" he asked, feeling kind of weird. It was his first time taking care of a kid so he didn't know what exactly to do; he thought it'd be better to ask first. But this tiny girl here was more than obedient; and she was even more than mature. She was just so easy to deal with. He hoped he wouldn't have any problems later.

"Um... can... wear... no..." Seiko tried, not so succesful at saying the whole words.

"Okay, I'll ask again, just to be sure. Can you change by yourself?" Hitsugaya asked. Yes-no questions seemed to work the best with her.

"Not... all... now..." She tried again. So this time the answer wasn't as simple as a yes or a no.

"Okay, let me guess." Hitsugaya said. Looking at her limbs, it was obvious that it would be hard for her now; but she was normally old enough so, "You actually can change, but you aren't sure if you can with your arms and legs like these. Am I right?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Un!" Seiko nodded strongly.

"Do you want me to help you change?" he asked. Best to get permission from a girl even if she's a kid.

"Un..." Seiko nodded slowly.

"Okay." he said and reached for her shirt. She automatically raised her arms like she was used to it. He remembered she was living with a caring woman for the few days she had been burning. He pulled off the shirt and tossed it away.

"You must have not had a bath for weeks." he commented, looking at her upper body which had turned into a weird mud color because of dirt, "But you can't have bath for a while. Your wounds should heal a little more."

"Hm?" Seiko tilted her had to the side a little.

"I think we can wipe you with a wet towel; it'll do for today." Hitsugaya stated, then grabbed the shirt he had just tossed on the floor and dressed her back. The summer night was pretty warm, but the same couldn't be said about inside of his room. He liked his room cold.

"You wait for me here," he said to Seiko, "I'll warm the water a little and come back for you."

"Un!" Seiko okayed. Hitsugaya quickly went to the kitchen and heated some water to the body temperature – a bit warmer than his body temperature since he was always colder than usual – and brought it to the bedroom, pulled a camel towel from the wardrobe and wetted it with the warm water, pulled another towel and left it on the futon. Then he pulled Seiko's shirt back off.

"Okay, this water is warm, but tell me if you feel cold, okay?" he said.

"Un." Seiko nodded. Hitsugaya squeezed the exrta water off of the towel and started wiping her torso with it. She sure was dirty, but all that dirt came off very easily and quickly. When he finished wiping her torso he put the towel aside, dried her body with the other towel, then reached for her shorts and pulled them down too. Seiko quickly stepped out of them. Hitsugaya wasn't surprised to see her upper legs just as dirty as her torso. He quickly wiped the parts of her legs that weren't bandaged, dried them and put both towels aside. He dressed her with the nemaki he had pulled out for her. It was the first time he had taken care of a kid like this, it felt different.

"Okay, all done." he said when he finished, then helped Seiko get under the comforter. She was watching his every move this whole time. Her face didn't have any expressions and she looked so cold, so expressionless that it could be scary; but Hitsugaya could almost see the flames in her deep purple eyes and he also knew she wasn't what she seemed to be. She kind of reminded him of his own childhood – even before the time he became a shinigami. He ruffled her hair again, she seemed to like having her hair ruffled unlike him, then he took a pillow and a sheet to spread on the sofa from the wardrobe, and his nemaki.

"Do you prefer the lights on?" he asked just in case before going out. Seiko softly shook her head no. Hitsugaya turned off the lights and wished her a quiet good night before going out of the bedroom to change quickly and make himself comfortable on the sofa. He made sure he was releasing enough amount of reiatsu to repress Seiko's, then closed his eyes even though he didn't feel like sleeping. He had taken a very long nap while Matsumoto was working already. This was going to be a long night.

...

"Umm... Shi... Shiro!.."

Hitsugaya woke up to the hesitant, trembling voice and opened his eyes sleepily. Seiko was hovering above him, probably thinking of poking him awake but hesitating. She quickly backed away when he started to get up. Hitsugaya moaned a little as all of his muscles ached when he sat up. Well, it could be worse than this, he thought.

"Good morning." he said to the little girl waiting in front of him obediently. He was starting to wonder if such behaviour was normal. "How was your night? Did you burn?" he asked, massaging his neck to relieve the soreness a little. He had thought that he wouldn't be able to sleep all night, but it seemed that he actually had dozed off at some point, he didn't remember when.

"No!" Seiko replied with an energetic voice. It was obvious that she was very happy about it.

"Good. Do you know what time it is?" Hitsugaya asked, trying to guess the time from the sun; but the day was very cloudy.

"Umm..." Seiko thought a little, then ran to the study desk. She grabbed the clock and brought it to Hitsugaya as he watched her, surprised to see her so cheerful. Even her face looked more lively compared to the day before. She showed tiny bits of expressions, like the ghost of a smile she had on her face right now.

"Thanks" Hitsugaya said as he took tho clock from her. It was already nine. He sighed. He probably had slept for almost eight hours straight no matter how he looked at it. Good thing he didn't have any captain meetings appointed for that morning.

"Can you put this back?" he said and handed the clock back to Seiko. _Make the kid feel useful. And wanted. _He knew how it felt to be ignored.

"Un!" Seiko happily took it and put it back on the study desk.

"Now, has it been long since you wake up?" Hitsugaya asked. Seiko shook her head no strongly.

"So I assume you've just woken up and came to wake me?" he guessed. Seiko nodded.

"Oh well, then let me have a quick shower first. Then I can prepare something to eat for you." Hitsugaya said, standing up and heading towards the bathroom.

"Um... me?" Seiko asked.

"You can wash as I prepare your breakfast." Hitsugaya replied, ruffling and messing his own already wild hair even more.

"Um, but!.." Seiko called to him. When he turned around to look at her, she showed him her bandaged hands.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot that." Hitsugaya sighed. She looked so healthy that it was almost impossible to believe she was still not healed. "Should I help you with it?"

"Unn... pwe... pwease?" Seiko tried. Hitsugaya snorted. She sure was trying hard.

"You should say 'please' not 'pwease' okay?" he corrected her with a warm voice.

"Okay!" Seiko said, following him to the bathroom but not going inside, waiting next to the door.

"What are you waiting for? Come in!" Hitsugaya said. Seiko quickly went in and next to the sink after that.

"Do you need anything else?.." Hitsugaya mumbled to himself. "Oh yeah, I'll need to buy you a teethbrush. Bear with it for today, okay?"

"Un!" Seiko okayed obediently.

"Come close to the sink so we won't wet all the floor." Hitsugaya said. Seiko hovered above the sink, letting him gently wash her face. Then he handed her the towel.

"Need anything else?" he asked. Seiko shook her head. "Can you wait for me in the living room? I'll be out in a few minutes." he told Seiko after she handed the towel back.

"Okay!" Seiko replied and quickly went to the living room. Hitsugaya locked the door, stripped off of his nemaki and stepped under the spraying water. The cool drops rolling down his whole body relaxed him, made him feel home. He started planning the day as he enjoyed the refreshing shower. He knew Matsumoto would bring the futon, so he didn't need to bother with it. He sure had to buy some stuff for Seiko, though. He wondered if he could leave it to Matsumoto. She'd probably be happy to 'play' with Seiko. It'd save Hitsugaya some trouble. He assumed he'd have to give his report about Seiko to Soutaichou. His team was also given some small missions; but he didn't need to worry about them at all. His team was capable and didn't need him to take care of little things. This day probably would revolve around Seiko. Like, she had to be taken to the fourth division for examination. Such heavy burns like hers would be needed to be checked regularly, even after being healed this much. She also had to be taken to Mayuri for another health-check... somehow. He thought he might need some sweets to have Mayuri examine her. Oh well, not too much of a bother.

He turned off the water and shook the remaining water drops off of his white locks. He wore his pale blue bathrobe and went quickly to his bedroom. He quickly dried himself, wore his shinigami uniform and headed back to the living room. He hadn't worn his haori since there was the risk of it getting dirty.

Seiko was there sitting on the puffy armchair quietly, waiting for him. He was starting to wonder why she was so obedient... and so patient. A child this age wouldn't usually be like this, right? Oh well, he had no complaints about how easy she was, though.

"Okay, come now;" he called her, "We'll prepare our breakfast."

"Okay!" Seiko jumped off the armchair and followed Hitsugaya to the kitchen. Abnormally obedient, he thought; but that could wait until today's jobs were done and over with, at least.

* * *

A/N: Here's the fifth chapter, in one day for y'all. I'm not too proud of this work of mine I have to say, it's a little too action-less; but I can say it's getting more interesting lately. I have reached 10th chapter; but I want to give every chapter one day for possible reviews. And I have to warn you, don't expect much from the childhood except something like prologue to the real story. What I mean is, I was so bored of her childhood that I skipped to her "present" at one point which is definitely much more fun to write. This story was solely a fruit of my wild fantasy where I had to be with him 24/7 because of some reason and it got this far, it feels weird. I think I got a little addicted to Seiko's story in the end. Are you glad I did? Then please tell me so; because I really get motivated when my story is liked. Do you think there are problems, holes to be filled and unanswered important questions? Please tell them too, they always help so much. So, please review, thank y'all!


	6. Chapter 6

if you get bored halfway, just please be patient for a short while or go read the A/N that waits in the end of the chapter. please.

* * *

6

"So, I will take her to the shop, you'll go report to Soutaichou and we'll be meeting at your office. Am I right?"

"Yeah."

"Alrightie! We're off then! Come, Seiko!"

"Bu..t..."

"It's OK, Seiko. You should go with her."

"Un..."

Hitsugaya watched Matsumoto and Seiko go down the road. Matsumoto was chirping happily and Seiko was following her, clinging to her pink scarf. Halfway through she turned her head and looked at Hitsugaya with a little worry on her face, then she turned back. He watched them until they turned the corner then he headed for soutaichou's meeting room. He wasn't sure what soutaichou would ask; but he was pretty much sure Seiko had done nothing wrong and didn't pose a threat to them. At least, they'd know for sure after Mayuri examined her and it would be the best to keep her somewhere their eyes could reach until then, in case she went berserk or something like that. And about her burns, Captain Unohana probably knew far more than him and possibly have already reported to soutaichou. The possible problem would be if the issue went to Central 46. He was mostly sure that the issue wasn't that big that needed to be taken to the Central 46 though. He had to make sure that was how it seemed to soutaichou too. Central 46 was harsh, cruel and rigid. Something he knew very well. Something he wanted no one to experience.

He sighed softly. He had walked pretty fast, so he was already in front of the meeting room. He glared at the giant doors for a while. He could clearly feel soutaichou's reiatsu from inside. He probably also knew that Hitsugaya was there. Hoping that the matter would be settled before it was made too big of an issue, he pushed the doors open and entered the room to give his report.

...

"Soooo, which one would you like, Seiko-chan?" Matsumoto chirped. They were already at the store and she was choosing clothes for Seiko. All the clothes she showed her were flashy and girly, though. And Seiko was rejecting all of them. She shook her head to the clothes Matsumoto showed again. Matsumoto sighed.

"Why don't you like any of them, Seiko-chan? Aren't they cute?"

Seiko blushed very slightly and averted her eyes, nodding softly. Matsumoto sighed.

"So you're shy, I guess? I'd never think you would be that way. More boyish things?" Matsumoto talked to Seiko as she searched for new clothes in the cloth pile. Then she pulled out simple grey jeans. They weren't tight so they wouldn't disturb her burns either. The second thing she pulled out was pale blue denim shorts. Both were a little tomboyish and large so she hoped Seiko wouldn't reject them... even though Matsumoto didn't like them so much.

"What about these two?" she asked, showing Seiko the clothes. Seiko looked at them a little, then nodded. Matsumoto smiled at her cheerfully. "Now that I know what you like i can pick out cute clothes for you!" she chirped. Tomboy clothes could be cute too, right? She wanted to make this little girl cute. She didn't look it; but she had a lot of potential. She could be made into a cute little princess, she could be loved by everyone. Firstly, her eyes were big and almond shaped with long, dark lashes and her irises had a beaming, beautiful purple color. Her lips were chipped and dry but had a beautiful shape. Her face had soft, cute curves and she had a cute little nose. Her body was skinny, but still had the childish cuteness. Matsumoto saw lots of potential in her, though Seiko didn't let her do what she wanted at all. And Matsumoto was forbidden of making Seiko do or buy anything she didn't want. A strict and absolute order from her captain. Jeez, he was so stern about things sometimes.

She picked out a few more clothes she thought that would suit Seiko's taste and showed them to her. Seiko nodded to all of them. When she thougt she had picked enough clothes, she brought Seiko to the dressing rooms, helped her try all of those clothes. Only a few of them didn't look good on her, but the others were bought directly. Matsumoto had an eye for such things, after all. When they had left the shop, Matsumoto's hands were already full with more than ten bags. They had already bought the daily needs of Seiko – like a toothbrush, a hairbrush, shoes and things like that – so their shopping was mostly over. Matsumoto wanted to visit a few more stores too; but she knew they didn't have time for that. Seiko had a busy day today. That would have to be done later.

"Now, we're going to the office, Seiko-chan!" Matsumoto informed the little girl clinging to her scarf, just to say something. Seiko didn't make any noise and just nodded again. Seiko was unbelievably quiet around Matsumoto and she didn't like the silence. Not at all. She wondered what her problem was. She remembered that Seiko was pretty energetic and willing to talk when she was with captain. Well, maybe she simply was attached to captain. He was the first to actually try and talk to her after all(Matsumoto had given up after two sentences so it probably wouldn't count) and the first to discover her gender. Matsumoto still didn't know how he just noticed it like that while she looked so much like a boy.

"Won't you talk to me a bit more, please?" Matsumoto sighed.

"Um... so...rry..." Seiko said quietly. Matsumoto sighed again.

"Well, whatever. Let's just go and wait for captain's arrival, then."

...

"I was starting to think you'd never come." Hitsugaya sighed when the two came in. He was already at the office with a big box of sweets, waiting for the girls to arrive. Seiko brightened up in an instant when she saw him and hurried to cuddle him, burying her face in his haori.

"Ah- hey- easy, Seiko!" Hitsugaya stammered from the surprise, pushing her away very gently not to hurt her – both her body and her pride. _Don't openly reject her while she's so dependent on you._ Seiko stopped cuddling instantly and backed away just enough so he would have his space while she could still hold onto his haori. There was a ghost of a smile on her face, a pale and small smile; but her eyes were already far brighter and more lively.

"Geez, she's so cheerful with you!" Matsumoto complained, putting the bags in her hand on the couch, "She sulked the whole day when we were shopping for her. She even pushed me away when I wanted to hug her! Isn't it unfair?"

"Maybe she can sense how far you'd go if she ever lets you do something to her." Hitsugaya said, ruffling Seiko's hair to relax her a bit more so that she'd let go of his haori. He knew that she'd stop tugging on it immediately if he told her to do so; but he didn't want to say that, especially when he was the only person she seemed to like and depend on. He didn't want to risk breaking her down, after all he didn't know anything about her past and how much she had been hurt before, how much trauma she carried in her heart. That sounded a little protective, but still.

"So cruel! I'm not a monster, I wouldn't do anything bad!" Matsumoto whined like a puppy.

"Yeah, I know, _nothing bad_. Right." Hitsugaya mumbled to himself; but still turned to Seiko and squated in front of her to be on her eye level. "I know you feel insecure; but Matsumoto is also your ally. You can be more open with her. Alright?"

"Un..." Seiko nodded softly and sadly looked down, "Sorry..."

"Don't apologize," Hitsugaya ruffled her hair again and stood back up, "You don't need to apologize for this. It's just that you can depend on her when I'm not around."

"Yep, I'm a dependable person! You can depend on me, Seiko-chan!" Matsumoto chirped.

"Umm... Ran... chan?" Seiko asked, tilting her head to the side a little and blushing. She was being all shy.

"Yes?" Matsumoto gave her a big smile.

"Tha..nks.." Seiko smiled back as much as she could manage.

"Now, enough with the chit-chat." Hitsugaya interfered their sweet-talk, remembering that they still had much to do and that they were already behind the shedule because of Matsumoto's shopping, "Now we need to visit the fourth division, then we will go to Captain Mayuri's laboratory. The sweets may be needed so I bought them before you came. Matsumoto, you can come or stay if you wish."

"Of course I will be coming!" Matsumoto chirped. She was trying hard to get along with Seiko. Hitsugaya appreciated that; it would be easier for her to simply ignore Seiko just like Seiko seemed to want and go to drink with her sake-buddies. "But why fourth division first? Isn't Captain Mayuri closer to us?"

"I have no idea what he might do and how long it would take; so i'm assuming that having her go to fourth division first might be better." Hitsugaya explained.

"Yeah, I didn't think about that." Matsumoto mused, "Oh well, maybe I'll say hi to Captain Kyouraku on the way."

"Don't make it into a sake-visit." Hitsugaya grumbled.

"Geez! Don't make me look like a drunkard, Captain!" Matsumoto complained.

"Fine, fine; let's go." Hitsugaya sighed and started walking, feeling Seiko tugging on his haori, following him. Matsumoto sighed too and followed him out of the office.

* * *

A/N: oops! a day late! sorry 'bout that. anyways, hope you liked it. i personally am bored in this chapter and in the next chapter's start. i mean, nothing at all happens because that's how the story's plot was. Seiko is checked up, taken care of and the same talk over and over. maybe the Mayuri part might have been more enjoying to write; but i had already started a much more fun part seperately and wanted to continue on from that. in the end, i linked those together, i don't regret it. if you get bored as i do, just please be patient for one more chapter and the fun starts. anyways. i look forward to reviews if you take your time to write one(please do). take care, y'all!


	7. Chapter 7

7

"Hey, look who's coming!" someone practically chirped. Seiko looked at the direction the voice was coming to see a weird man wearing a hat and a colorful kimono with pink background. The man looked very lazy with the way talked and lied on the floor with a little bottle in his hand.

"Hello, Captain Kyouraku~" Matsumoto chirped even more melodically, waving her hand. The man smiled to her, then he noticed Seiko.

"Say, Rangiku-chan, who is this little lady?" the man asked, looking directly at Seiko. Seiko hid behind Hitsugaya, leaving one eye out to see what was happening; she was embarrassed.

"Oh, she's Seiko-chan!" Matsumoto answered him, smiling cutely, "I found her pretty wounded in the Rukongai, now we're treating her and looking after her. It seems she has a great potential to be a shinigami; but we don't know much about her either, at least not yet."

"Ooh~ is that so?" the man mused, then smiled at Seiko. "Nice to meet you, Seiko-chan!"

Seiko closed her eyes and hid totally behind Hitsugaya. She wasn't used to people, meeting new people or close attention like that.

"Forgot to tell you, she's a little unsociable and couldn't talk until a little while ago." Matsumoto sweatdropped.

"Oh... I see." the man giggled. Seiko heard Hitsugaya sigh.

"Seiko, it's not right to be like that. Now come out at least a little and listen to him properly, will you?" Hitsugaya said. Seiko gasped. She was being scolded by the ice prince. She didn't want that. She didn't want him to grow tired of her. She didn't want him to leave her alone. She was going to be a good girl. She slowly got out from behind him, still holding onto his haori tightly.

"Uh... ni-.. nice to..." Seiko tried, not being able to get the words out of her mouth properly, her nervousness wasn't helping at all. It was definitely frustrating.

"Yeah, that's enough." Seiko heard Hitsugaya's voice and felt his cold hand ruffle her hair. She looked up at him. She was approved of. She sighed with relief and tried to smile, found out her face was still stiff like a stone.

"My name is Kyouraku Shunsui, Seiko-chan." the man said. Seiko turned to look at him properly, blushing a little. She had never been acquainted with new people before, her old family would always keep her in the home and take care of her there. About the time she was dealing with burns and nightmares... well, she remembered almost nothing from that time anyways.

"Kyo... Kyora..." Seiko tried to say his name; but it was pretty hard making the words come out properly, especially with the long words. Matsumoto giggled.

"Well, you don't have to force yourself, Seiko-chan." She smiled at Seiko warmly, "You can call him Kyo-chan!" Matsumoto chirped.

"Matsumoto..." Hitsugaya growled warningly.

"What's with it, captain? I'm just trying to make it easier for Seiko-chan!" Matsumoto pouted. A vein popped on Hitsugaya's forehead.

"Well well, Captain Hitsugaya, isn't it alright?" Kyouraku interrupted, "It's for Seiko-chan after all; she still can't talk that well, right? No need to be that stern."

"Fine, if it's alright with you." Hitsugaya sighed.

"Um... Kyo... san?" Seiko asked. She had corrected 'chan' to 'san' automatically; even though she had never gotten sociable before, she had been taught that 'chan' was something you'd use with people you're close. She didn't know this Kyouraku person that well yet.

"Yep, just like that!" Matsumoto chirped.

"So, where are you going now?" Kyouraku asked, sipping some drink from a red, wide cup. Sake? Well she had seen her foster father drink that before.

"To fourth division for her check-up." Hitsugaya answered him quickly, then glanced at Matsumoto; "Also, we need to hurry or we will be late."

"Oh, sure! Then, bye, Captain Kyouraku!" Matsumoto chirped, waved at Kyouraku.

"Have a safe trip!" Kyouraku waved back. Hitsugaya started walking again. Seiko looked one last time at Kyouraku, then followed Hitsugaya, still clinging to his haori. Even though they were healed, she still felt her legs a little shaky and weak, she felt like she would lose balance sometimes. Holding onto his haori made her feel safe.

"Now, if you please won't start chatting with Abarai..." Hitsugaya mumbled.

"Huh? But he's my friend, Captain!" Matsumoto protested weakly.

"And we're about to be late. Does this mean anything to you?" Hitsugaya sighed.

"Fine, I'll just say hello, if I see him." Matsumoto mumbled. They both were quiet for the rest of the way. Were they always like that? Hitsugaya looked like he was a little fed up with Matsu... Ran-chan. Seiko wondered if Ran-chan had done something wrong... or if Hitsugaya was always like that. She had pretty much understood that he usually had a serious attitude towards life; but wasn't he a little depressed compared to the day before? Or maybe it was just Seiko being a little too chary about him. She decided to let it go before she got too paranoid.

...

The fourth division was pretty empty. Most of the shinigami were out on cleaning duty and the patients there were either very lightly wounded or having a health check. Things were pretty peaceful around Seireitei lately, except for little accidents and a few hollow cases. Unohana sighed with satisfaction in her room. Having everyone healthy was certainly a nice feeling, especially when she had all her paperwork finished.

_Knock, knock._

"Yes?" she replied automatically. The door opened a little and Isane's face appeared in the gap.

"Captain Hitsugaya is here, Captain Unohana." Isane said timidly. Unohana smiled at her sweetly.

"Take them to room six, I will be coming shortly."

"Alright." Isane closed the door with that. Unohana finished what was left of her tea and started making her way towards room six. So that little burning kid was back. She remembered that the kid had a strong body that could heal very easily. Unohana knew that if she didn't start burning again, she probably was fully healed.

When she entered the room, all faces immediately turned to her. She smiled sweetly at all of them.

"Welcome back. I hope my patient is alright."

"She didn't burn at night." Hitsugaya replied.

"Did you visit Captain Mayuri?" Unohana asked, going next to Seiko who was sitting on the wheeled bed. She reached for her arms, undoing the bandage carefully.

"Not yet. I will take her there after the health check."

"Hmm.." Unohana mused. It was a wise decision, considering Captain Mayuri's unstable personality. "And what did Soutaichou decide in the end?"

"He said that he would let it go until the results of Captain Mayuri's examination are out. After then he might take the issue to Central 46 depending on the results." Hitsugaya summed up.

"Then you should be quick about that, shouldn't you?" Unohana smiled.

...

"But in the end, Captain Mayuri _did_ accept that you're normal. I think that itself is a good thing already."

"Please, I thought I'd die! That man is freaky, I'm telling you. I hid behind Captain the first time I ever saw him. I still have the emotional scars of that time."

"It can't be that bad. I know he's a little scary, but..."

"Imagine that you're a kid being taken to his laboratory and you're to be the next subject."

"Okay, that sounds scary."

"That's what I mean."

Seiko giggled and leaned back on her hands. She closed her eyes and raised her eyes to the sun. Those days were definitely warm memories in her mind. She was glad to be found by Matsumoto and she was even more glad that Hitsugaya had been the one to take care of her.

"I remember the day you actually snarled at Captain Zaraki." Nanao mused. They were sitting on the grass, chatting about the past just to pass time.

"Yeah, I remember doing that too. God, I was brave!" Seiko chuckled, "Though I bet he doesn't scare me as much as he scares you, he annoys me more than he does you."

"He can't miss anyone whose blade can actually damage him." Nanao nodded.

"What, is it my fault that I happened to scratch him that time? How could I have known?" Seiko laughed, remembering that time. She had thought that Zaraki was going to attack Hitsugaya and had wanted to actually protect him which made her snarl first, then jump on Zaraki's face and scratch and actually wound him which was a miracle in itself. Wow, past! Protecting Captain Hitsugaya, what a childish thought! She smiled unconsciously.

"What about the time with Captain Byakuya?" Nanao giggled.

"Now, don't say it like that! I'm still in love with the cookies he makes." Seiko said, laughing. She had discovered very early that under the "serious worcaholic" cover, he was a very nice man; one of the nicest men around, actually.

"I guess he'd like you for that." Nanao said, "you should tell this to him sometime. It could even get you a salary hike if you were under him."

"No thanks, I'm happy the way I am." Seiko breathed with the satisfaction she got from the warmth of light rays.

"I know you are." Nanao mumbled, more to herslef. Seiko decided to ignore it. Everybody knew it anyways and it was a true fact; she didn't mind who said what about it. She loved working under Hitsugaya, or more, being with him, since she remembered. It was normal that it would be widely known, considering she used to be the mascot of Seireitei once, when she was small enough to walk around the street behind Hitsugaya, holding onto his haori. She had lots of funny stories from that time; like the one time she had tried to cook. She had learned fast that she was supposed to stay at least one meter away from any kind of oven. Cleaning up had taken ages after that incident. She still laughed hard whenever she remembered Hitsugaya's expression of when he had seen his kitchen like that.

Seiko had learned a lot about Hitsugaya during the times she had had to live with him which was definitely a great bliss. Mayuri had taken his time finding out the reason of her burnings and "inventing" her reiatsu-suppressor pills so she had stayed with Hitsugaya for a considerable amount of time like two months. Even after that, Hitsugaya had been chosen to be her guardian until her mental state as well as her body fully healed and she was ready to be sent to Shinigami Academy. She treasured the memories of those times a lot, even though she wasn't so well in health, even if she couldn't perfectly talk yet, those memories were irreplecable.

"There has been times you scared all of us, though." Nanao breathed, like she was talking to herself. She sounded extremely relaxed, sleepy even.

"I don't remember such times?" Seiko asked.

"Of course you don't. You were one fearless kid. You didn't even know the meaning of the word danger. You were only shy at first. You always managed to shock all of us with your actions." Nanao chuckled softly, "Like the time you actually jumped off from the Sougyouku Hill."

"I really did that?" Seiko giggled with awe and disbelief.

"Yeah. If it wasn't for your Captain, you probably would be dead by now." Nanao sighed. Seiko slightly remembered something like falling from a high place and being caught by Hitsugaya; but she had no idea she had jumped off of such a place.

"Hey, tell me the story!" Seiko said with high enthusiasm.

"No way, I don't even want to remember that time!" Nanao giggled.

"Oh, come on! Pretty please?" Seiko practically begged.

"Uh... well, it wouldn't kill me, I guess." Nanao gave in.

* * *

A/N: there! finally comes the fun part for me. i wanted to skip the boring parts thus used "now" as a base to skip to exciting memories. i think i'll have more fun, and after the memories, the action with Seiko will come but i still need to edit ch9 and 10 for that. i have tomorrow all free so i think i'll be able to edit two chapters in one go... maybe. i have more to add to the story. i recently realized that i told nothing personal about Seiko and i thought i should add 'em to the next chapters so it may take time. anyways. i really appreciate any suggestions about the story, i'd like to hear what you'd want to read from me. hope you enjoyed this chapter too, enough to look forward to the next chapter; please review!

P.S: my unnamed reviewer; i'm so grateful that you actually follow the story and give me the reviews, i really do appreciate that. i wanted to thank you personally for that; but you don't have an account here so i didn't have the chance to pm you. in the end, i decided to thank you openly here for the support. hope i don't disappoint you later on the story. take care!


	8. Chapter 8

8

"Captain~ Have you seen Seiko-chan today?" Matsumoto chirped from the door. Hitsugaya raised his eyes from his work for a brief second. His hands never stopped.

"No. Have you checked out the candy store?"

"I looked at everywhere, I even asked Yachiru-chan but she said she knew nothing too." Matsumoto whined like a puppy dog.

"She could have been hiding from you." Hitsugaya breathed.

"Wha~t? You're so cruel, Captain!" Matsumoto whined again.

"She knows, after all, that you will dress her up today." Hitsugaya sighed. He was getting a little bored of doing this. Nothing was happening aroung Seireitei these days so all he did was reporting the same things with same words. He actually hoped that something interesting would happen, even though he didn't really want anyone getting hurt. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy some peaceful days, but...

"No!" Matsumoto said, "I couldn't get the ribbons I ordered yet, and she knows it. We'll play dress-up tomorrow."

"Are you sure she isn't sleeping?" Hitsugaya said, putting aside his pen and closing the lid of his ink bottle.

"It's the first place I checked." Matsumoto said, "This place was the last to check out again, I thought maybe I missed her on the way and she came here."

"For sure she didn't" Hitsugaya mused, then raised his head and looked at Matsumoto's eyes. "Where exactly did you check out?"

"I checked her room and the baths, I checked out her friends' rooms. I checked out hot springs too. I asked Captain Unohana, Captain Byakuya, Captain Kyoraku, Captain Ukitake, Captain Komamura..."

"Komamura?"

"Yeah, Seiko-chan likes his fur. Anyways. I asked Yachiru if she had seen him, but Captain Zaraki wasn't "playing" with her. I asked Nemu and she said she hadn't seen her the whole week and Captain Mayuri had something else to research on so she isn't with her either. Then I checked out the shopping stores, she wasn't seen. After that I checked out the candy store, the salesman said he had last seen her yesterday. Nanao-chan and Momo-chan were on break and chatting; but neither of them have seen her today. Renji was busy cleaning whe division, Izuru and Shuuhei were napping. Nothing from them either. I asked the gates guards too, but she hasn't gone out of Seireitei. Then I came back here. That's all."

"You did a good job there." Hitsugaya mused, "She could be at my flat of yours too, though. Remember, she likes randomly going there and playing by herself."

"She wasn't at mine." Matsumoto said.

"She could be now. Go check out the houses of people she likes. I guess I'm going to do a street search during this time to see if she's just walking randomly." Hitsugaya ordered.

"Aren't you saying just random places?" Matsumoto chirped.

"You checked most of all the relevant places, all we have left is random. So let's do a random search, shall we." Hitsugaya said.

"Alrightie!" Matsumoto chirped and got out quickly. So Seiko was missing again. She had gone missing before too, and Hitsugaya had found her at the mountain side, and once close to the forest. Hitsugaya assumed she would be around the wild again. He sighed. He knew that she sometimes could need a place to hide so he wasn't going to reveal her "secret places" even to Matsumoto; but this time there wasn't even one single reason for her to run to there. She really had to stop doing that so Hitsugaya would probably have to have a long chat with her... or scold her a little. Of course, that'd have to wait until he found her.

...

"So where exactly did he find me?"

"Umm, I'm not really sure if I'm supposed to tell you this, I don't know if it's true after all. It was just a great gossip that time, I'm sure what I'm telling you is the modified version."

"So you didn't hear it from Captain's mouth? I thought this was the real story!" Seiko whined like a puppy.

"I never said it was!" Nanao shrugged, "You were the one who persisted to hear it."

"Yeah, anyways," Seiko sighed and went back to her first excitement, "Since it's some big gossip, I'm sure there's some truth in it. Come on, tell me the rest of it! Where exactly did Captain find me?"

...

She was right there, standing on the Sougyoku Hill. Hitsugaya let out a tiny gasp when he saw Seiko stand there with an extremely naive look on her face – as he could see from that far, at least. What was she trying to do this time? And it was banned to go there without special permission anyways; how the hell had she gone there in the first place? Hitsugaya decided to Shunpo there whether he had a permission or not; he could explain himself to Soutaichou anytime. The worst punishment he'd get would be some extra paperwork. Not too bad, he was used to it anyways.

He started shunpoing towards the Hill and at the same time he saw Seiko move too. She was getting even closer to the edge. Really, what exactly was on her mind? He was totally going to scold her good when he reached her. As he got closer, he saw her expression clearly. She had this look of excitement in her face, looking down from the hill. He had no idea what she was so excited about, but he sped up even more when he saw her so close to falling.

But he was still too far away from her when he saw a piece of earth splitting from the edge of the hill and breaking Seiko's balance too, and making her fall from the edge.

...

"Liar! That's not jumping off, that's falling!" Seiko protested.

"The rumors still have it as you jumped off of there!" Nanao defended herself.

"Then where did you hear this version of things?" Seiko insisted.

"I heard from Captain Kyouraku. He told me after I scolded him a little; but he said that's what Captain Hitsugaya told Soutaichou when he was defending himself... and you." Nanao shrugged.

"Why would he defend us?" Seiko asked. It sounded weird.

"Because, like I told you just now, normally it's forbidden to enter that area without permission. In the end the guards were punished for being so careless as to let you in. Soutaichou wanted you to be taken care of Captain Unohana and not Captain Hitsugaya, but you wouldn't accept so Captain Hitsugaya was given a warning some extra paperwork as a punishment instead. You somehow tore off the hook with nothing." Nanao explained. Seiko remembered a time Hitsugaya took no time to take care of her because of the paperwork and always told her that it was because of her foolishness and ignorance that he couldn't attend to her so she had to be "more careful from now on". But she really didn't remember a thing about the time she had fallen off of the Hill and she absolutely wondered how exactly she was alive right now.

"Come on, tell me the rest of it!" Seiko poked Nanao. Nanao giggled and continued with the story.

...

Hitsugaya clenched his teeth and pushed himself to his limits, shunpoing full speed, not caring about the amount of reiatsu he had to spend or anything. Seiko was falling and he was too far away from her. She was going to crash. Hitsugaya caught a quick glance on what happened around him and let out a low growl. He left some damage everywhere he passed and had all of the shinigami looking after him to make out who he was. He couldn't care less. His eyes and his whole being was focused on Seiko. He had to reach her, prevent her from crashing. But she crashed much sooner than he expected.

When her back hit the rock that stuck out of the wall of the Hill, Hitsugaya felt a surge of fear take over him. _Don't be hurt, please don't be hurt, please don't be hurt because of me. Please don't be hurt because of my remissness._ With the surge of fear, Hitsugaya realized, that there was a bigger wave of guilt inside him. He had sworn not to let anything hurt her despite Seiko herself; but he had just failed himself. He hated that. He sped up even more, pushing himself over his limits, using all of his reiatsu. Seiko was about to hit the ground; but he was about to reach her too. With a little roar, he pushed himself forward hard one last time and caught Seiko right before she hit the ground.

_Just in time,_ he thought, as he landed on the ground; but the momentary relief wore off quick. Seiko was unconscious. Of course, after the damage her tiny body had taken... Hitsugaya checked her pulse. Her heart was still beating. She was still alive, for now. Hitsugaya quickly checked out her back. He was relieved to see only a few scratches and nothing more. But she could have internal bleedings or broken ribs, he couldn't know. First, he wanted to know if she could come conscious. If she could wake up, he gave himself permission to relax a little. He absolutely hoped she was okay. He was doing his best to be rational but he still felt scared, that couldn't be changed.

"Seiko!" Hitsugaya called her name, softly shaking her, making sure he wouldn't hurt her any more even in the case her wounds were really serious, "Seiko can you hear me? If you hear me, open your eyes! Just open your eyes."

Seiko whined softly and opened her eyes a little. Hitsugaya sighed and relaxed a little.

"Shi... Shiro?" Seiko asked weakly. After the rush of relief, Hitsugaya suddenly felt angry after the quilt of fear was gone. He had forgotten for a moment that she could still be in danger.

"What do you think you're doing, going up there like that?" he suddenly started scolding, "Don't you know the word danger? If I were one second late, you could have died! Haven't you promised me you wouldn't do anything dangerous anymore, huh?"

"I... I..." Seiko stuttered, then her eyes watered. She hadn't shed real tears even once; but Hitsugaya had seen her eyes water when she was in awful pain. He suddenly remembered that there was still a possibility that she was fatally wounded.

"Sorry... sorry, sorry, sorry! Shiro... sorry..." Seiko whined, holding onto his haori. It didn't seem that she was in physical pain this time; her face didn't look like that. It was more like she was sad, so sad that it would cause... her... tears? Okay, that would definitely soften his attitude.

"Okay, let's make a deal." Hitsugaya breathed and saw the happiness and hope in her eyes the same instant, "I will forgive you under just one condition. You will NOT do anything like this anymore. No more climbing cliffs, playing with swords, or anything dangerous like that. Not until you actually learn what's dangerous and what's not. When you want to go somewhere, you have to get permission first. Do you understand?"

Seiko stayed motionless for a short while, then nodded slowly.

"You swear to get permission when you want to go somewhere and not to do anything dangerous, then I will forgive you. Deal?" Hitsugaya repeated, just to be sure.

"Deal!" Seiko said with enthusiasm.

"So you swear?" Hitsugaya said.

"Swear! I swear!" Seiko said turthfully.

"Are you sure you got what I mean?" Hitsugaya said, doubtfully. He remembered the same conversation from the time she had promised "not to do anything dangerous" last week.

"Un!" Seiko nodded strongly.

"Alright then." Hitsugaya sighed, he had decided to believe her again. Then he remembered she had just hit a rock with high speed. She just looked so healthy and not in pain. "Say, does it hurt anywhere? Does it hurt when you breathe? Or does your stomach hurt?" Hitsugaya asked, pausing for an answer after every question. Seiko shook her head no to all of them. "Can you feel your legs?" Hitsugaya asked after that.

"I'm okay!" replied Seiko and got on her feet, holding onto his haori still, "No hurt!.. umm... my back... hurt... sore? Injure?"

Hitsugaya almost giggled after this. Her back hurt. _Her back hurt!_

"Of course it hurts, you hit it so hard. It's injured, that's right." he said to a softly smiling Seiko, "It's a miracle that it doesn't hurt anywhere else; but we have to have you checked up still, so we're going to the fourth division."

...

"And he gave you a piggyback ride all the way back."

"Haha, that sounds so cute!" Seiko giggled, then let out the loud laughter that she failed to hold back.

"Even I saw you like that, it looked cute." Nanao joined her laughter with a giggle.

"Yeah, it's a great time to recall your memories with the amount of paperwork gathered on your table and the missing Rukongai citizens, isn't it? Hoshikaze Seiko!"

Hearing her Captain's very stern voice, Seiko bounced up immediately, feeling Nanao do the same next to her; then Nanao saluted Hitsugaya quickly and hurried away, unlike Seiko who stood perfectly still.

"Sorry, Captain, I was just taking a break!" Seiko apologized quickly.

"It's been one long break, don't you think?" Hitsugaya said with the same stern voice, then continued with a softer tone, "I can't do everything by myself with this much work. Even Matsumoto is helping, you come do your job too. You're the third seat of 10th division now, don't forget the responsibility it puts on you."

"Aye!" Seiko said and started making her way in, but right when she reached the door, she remembered something and turned back, "Hey, I think it'd be good if you'd take a break once in a while too, Captain." she told him over her shoulder.

"I'm used to it, moreover, I have the whole night to rest." Hitsugaya said in a devil-may-care tone, coming after Seiko. Seiko shrugged, she cared about her Captain alright; but she knew her place well enough and wouldn't meddle in his private life. She could be new to the third seat position; but she wasn't new to him. She had known him for so long and she had also woked under him for thirteen years straight. All she wasn't used to was having this high a seat. After the last mission she had completed about the Hueco Mundo; she was given a huge promotion – like up from the tenth seat to the third seat. It made a few of her comrades seriously jealous while it made the rest very happy for her. She was loved a lot by almost everyone. Even Zaraki Kenpachi loved her in his own wicked way. Well, whatever.

She went inside to her seat. Hitsugaya had been right, there was a giant mountain of paperwork waiting there. She looked at the clock, it had just been half an hour since she had got off of there and there was not even one paper when she had left! Things were going seriously hectic it seemed. Even Matsumoto had a smaller mountain on her desk and she was actually working. Seiko noted the date of the day on her calender; she was definitely going to hold an anniversary of this day.

* * *

A/N: there goes, Unnamed, the reason why Seiko would jump off of Sougyoku Hill. or not. well, i know she wouldn't be that silly, i just wanted a scene where Hitsugaya's worried for her and scolds her. i thought it would be cute. i hope you thought so too. but after this, i might not be able to update daily. the rest of the story, in its raw form, is written in my red notebook. i have to type and edit it first. i'll try to make it quick; but i have to go to my doc tomorrow and get some blood tests runned so i might not have much time for that. i'll try my best, though. but after this chapter, cutesy past is mostly completed except for some recalling i might decide to add later on. after this chapter, i'm up for the action and my personal fantasies. expect more. and thanks again for every single review. again. ah, whatever. hope you still like this fanfic. please review, thank you!


	9. Chapter 9

9

"But, he really wants to know you a lot! He adores you!" the girl in front of her tried one more time; but Seiko knew it was futile. Like she didn't see the mountain of paper in front of her. Well, it was mostly finished paperwork; but it didn't mean Seiko didn't have any work to do after this. Silly girl. Moreover, she had never like being an object to obsess over. She was warm hearted alright; but she didn't like things like this.

"He can wait till later. _You _can wait till later. I'm too busy to deal with you right now so if you don't mind..." Seiko didn't complete the sentence just to be polite for it was overly obvious what she wanted of the girl. The girl mumbled a small 'sorry' and left the room she was working alone. It seemed that Seiko had hurt her feelings.

Well, she couldn't care less.

She usually did whatever it took not to hurt people; but sometimes it was just an impossible task. Also, she really didn't want to take her time being gentle right now. She sighed and turned her eyes back to her work. There was just so much she had to do because of the damn slack-off Matsumoto that she wouldn't care about little details like some hurt feelings or overly excited fans – she had no idea when or how she got them though.

Matsumoto had given up on the paperwork in two days and was now slacking off God knows where. Seiko didn't want to overwork her captain so she had taken on all the paperwork of the useless lieutenant. Captain would only need to stamp them because her stamp wouldn't be valid since she was one lower seat. She knew that by experience so she left them un-stamped... unless her Captain especially gave her the warranty to stamp them.

"MAAAATSUMOTOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Seiko snorted. She knew this annoyed voice of her captain too well. It was a sound that only the damn slack-off lieutenant managed to make that almost-too-cool, white haired little giant shout. Seiko would sometimes even feel jealous of the special deep trust and friendship they shared. She didn't like the feeling of being left out and because of her position in the team, she would naturally be left out in some issues. It wasn't anything special, she just didn't like not knowing something. Anything. She could have accepted it; but it didn't change the amount of annoyance she'd felt.

"Seiko!" Hitsugaya stormed in the room she was working in. Damn, she was about to finish; he couldn't wait a little before storming in, could he? She didn't raise her head to look at him which happened extremely rare. But she just felt too annoyed with all the paperwork and wanted it to finish; the sooner the better and she had almost no patience to anything that interrupted her work for she had spent most of her patience on that silly girl.

"Is everything done?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Not yet," Seiko sighed, "thanks to the work your slack-off lieutenant left me. It'd be finished if Captain came in a few minutes later, though."

"Don't complain." Hitsugaya breathed. Seiko raised her head to actually meet his icy eyes with her deep, swallowing, purple eyes that had flames inside right now.

"Believe me, Captain; if I were complaining, you couldn't stand it. Now, if you excuse me." She said in a barely calm voice and kept on doing the paperwork she was getting so really fed up with.

"Whatever." said Hitsugaya and started watching outside from the window as he waited for the work to be done. If he's waiting like this, it must be important, Seiko thought; but still peeked a glance at his shining profile against the light coming from the window before she went back to work. He looked like a prince she had seen from the fairytale picture books – when she was still back in her first home in Rukongai, of course. She knew her heart would melt with the pouring feelings of her childhood if she kept looking at his godly figure with the light sparkling around him, warming the color of his eyes. She averted her eyes from the pretty scene and concentrated on her work.

A few quiet minutes passed as she finished the last few papers she had to fill. The silence with him would never be akward. It would be more like calming; like the calmness you'd find in a snowy, day sitting under the snow when no one's out there. Hitsugaya wasn't the type to keep things all complex and weirdly not understandable. If he didn't talk, he didn't have anything to say and that was all. Well, mostly.

"It's done, Captain." Seiko informed him in a few minutes and got off of her chair. Almost all of her joints made strange cracking sounds when she stretched.

"Just how long have you been sitting?" Hitsugaya asked, not so much trying to conceal the tiny speck of surprise in his voice.

"For about... five hours?" Seiko answered shrugging, like it was something daily for her – which wouldn't be too much of an exaggereation, "Your lieutenant is hard on me, Captain." she added with a faint, evil grin playing on the corner of her lips.

"It's your fault for going easy on her." Hitsugaya replied, clearly having fun though it definitely didn't show on his face, "Anyways, come quick. We're heading to the real world."

"What is it this time?" Seiko sighed, "Last time they called it 'urgent' it was all about a bunch of extra-weak hollows."

"Kurosaki was away for a week that time and that town is helpless when that hot-headed substitue is away. You can't help it."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, _don't complain._" Seiko said sarcastically, "So who else is coming?"

"If you're asking Matsumoto, she chose to stay back and do the paperwork for a change." said Hitsugaya. Seiko was sure that she heard an evil kind of joy in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm sure she did." Seiko grinned. She was positive that Matsumoto would definitely find a way to slack off OR call some poor fourth or fifth seat for 'help'... or maybe Hisagi. "So who's actually _coming_ with us?"

"No one else."

"No one... seriously?"

"Do you need help with some _extra-weak hollow_?" Hitsugaya replied, knowing Seiko would never accept something like that. Seiko shook her head no. Hitsugaya continued; "Since we'll be staying for at least a month-"

"A _MONTH?_ Just what IS this mission? Do you wish to work me to death?"

Hitsugaya snorted at her over-reaction.

"Urahara's gigais are always comfortable. And since we're staying for a month, the less the better."

"So it's just us with a crappy mission at real world for a whole ultra-long, useless month." Seiko sighed, "Oh great. Great. I'd volunteer to stay back too."

"Don't complain! Think of it as a vacation, if it bugs you that much."

"Sure, sure..." Seiko frowned. Vacation, yeah. Well, even if it was tiring, she would rather be of use instead of a vacation at a time like this. The untamed foreign energy frames were roaming just outside of Seireitei and if the shinigamy city weren't being protected by the wall, it would invade the Seireitei instantly. Just in three days, five people had gone missing from Rukongai and one lower-ranked shinigami was also lost in the woods never to be found again. The whole Seireitei was alarmed even though there were no official declaration of emergency and that was the very reason of the billions of paperwork. Mayuri had gone insane researching and there were lots and lots and lots to do here; yet they were going to the real world, away from the place they could be needed.

"What about this much paperwork I did?" Seiko complained but Hitsugaya interfered before she could continue.

"Matsumoto will stamp the ones you already did and the rest is up to her."

No problem at this part either. For a second Seiko focused on the colorless reiatsu – she had started to call the foreign reiatsu 'colorless' because every single reiatsu, even hollow reiatsu had a color(definitely burnt black) to her, but this one... it didn't have a color. Seiko had given even the most soulless reiatsu she had seen before a color; but she couldn't give a color to this. It was a first to her. But maybe the mission was something about it. No, it had to be about the colorless reiatsu. Why couldn't she think of it before? In the end, she decided to ask as if she hadn't understood yet.

"Say, captain," she started with a little hesitation, "why are we being sent away while there's such a mess in Rukongai?"

"To investigate." Hitsugaya said easily. She had been right. All those hours of paperwork must have clouded her brain for a while. But then, there came the other questions.

"What do we investigate in the _real world_?"

"The same reiatsu was spotted in the real world and it's much stronger than here. Though there it's harmless for now. We think the reiatsu isn't truly awakened there yet and we don't want to awaken it; but we still can't miss any chance to investigate."

"So we go and look into the roots of it." Seiko mombled, more to herself. She hadn't heard about the same reiatsu being in the real wold. Of course, it was probably kept a secret still, just in case. "Now it makes sense that you're chosen, you know the real world the best. But, why choose me to accompany you?"

"You're the best choice, that's why." Hitsugaya replied without pausing to think. So he trusted her that much. Well, that of course made her happy, but...

"Best choice?" she couldn't help chuckling sarcastically, "What part of me is a best choice? I don't have a Bankai, I'm not cool-headed, I don't know the principles of an investigetion and there are still a lot I'm unable to understand. You are better off alone."

"You're called the Queen of Flames because of your captain-class fire-power without a bankai. You achieved your shikai in just four months. You're strong, you can watch your back and also watch my back too, when needed. You can react to the reiatsu changes in the air the best and you can easily tell how it's changed even in the slightest change. You're more rational than most of your higher-ups and you can think both complex and simplistic depending on the situation. You can see lots of possibilities and you see the possibilities none of us can think of. Is it enough, or do you want me to continue my reasons of choosing you?"

Seiko blinked a few times after this long speech, it was unusual for him to talk this long if he wasn't explaining something and he definitely wasn't _explaining _anything right now. She had no idea that he thought of her this way, though, she felt so proud. Still, she wasn't convinced.

"Then what about the times I'm hot-headed?"

"I'll be there to cool you down."

"And about the things I'm unable to understand?"

"Those are mostly the things that none of the shinigami understand. I really wonder when you'll stop underestimating yourself."

"I'm just stating the truth!" Seiko frowned.

"Fine," Hitsugaya breathed, "I won't argue with you on this anymore, it's pointless AND you're coming with me." He turned around and walked out of the room.

Seiko let out a low groan with annoyance. Why was it that nobody believed her when it came to her powers? She was the only one who didn't exaggerate them. She knew herself. She wasn't strong, she knew that and wasn't ashamed to admit that; yet everyone kept saying the opposite, arguing with her when she stated it simple and open, it was annoying. And the colorless reiatsu wasn't helping at all. It was so empty that it also annoyed her, made her want to fill the hole OR get a bucket of paint and color it. Jeesh.

Hitsugaya stopped right out of the door and turned his icy stare on Seiko, waiting for her to start moving. Seiko sighed and gave in, walked after him as he led the way. She sure wanted to act selfish and stubborn; but it had been long – almost twenty years – since she had given up on childish acts. She remembered how it was back then, how she wanted to please "the big brother" and how hard she tried for that. Not much was different today, she still wanted to please Hitsugaya; the only difference was that he was her respectable Captain now, not The Big Brother which meant she had to act a lot more careful now. Though she was getting used to the fact and starting to relax lately.

Drowned in thoughts, she realized a little too late that they were headed for the Senkai gate. It confused her a little.

"Captain, what about the papers I need to sign, or a notification about me being your company? Are we going directly?"

"Everything's taken care of. I expected the question a bit earlier, though. Get focused." Hitsugaya said. Seiko chilled. He had always been good at reading her of course; but at times, it kind of felt creepy. Then again, neither his words nor him reading her was the thing that gave her the chills. It was the tone of his voice. There was something in it that she couldn't quite make out. It almost sounded like he... hated her? No way, that wasn't possible. But it was obvious that something was disturbing him. She wondered if Matsumoto had annoyed him out of his mind again. If that was it, Seiko was seriously going to scold her after she came back from the real world.

Thinking on it, she'd have to stay there for longer than a month and she bet she couldn't hang on without her pills and other stuff. She had to grab some of them before they left or she wouldn't be of any use, she'd be a burden instead since the night burns would come back instantly, even with Hitsugaya there to help her.

"Captain, I need to grab some things from my room before we take our leave." Seiko informed him and heard him sigh with annoyance.

"Are you sure all that paperwork hasn't clouded your brain yet? Do these things in time, we're about to reach the gate." Hitsugaya said, barely glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

"I'm sorry, Captain." Seiko said. He was definitely annoyed like hell, she knew that if she were obedient and calm, he would also calm down very soon. Though every cell in her body screamed that this weird mood was causeless, she decided to postpone the issue a little.

"Hurry up, I'm not waiting for you." Hitsugaya said, looking back at the road he was walking.

"Aye!" Seiko said and shunpoed towards her room. She believed she'd make it before he reached the Senkai gate – if she hurried and he didn't hurry, that is. One thing certain was that she was going to murder Matsumoto when she returned form the real world.

* * *

A/N: Sorry, I couldn't make it, I almost couldn't make it today either. It was weirdly very busy these two days, I couldn't predict. But, well, in the end I finished editing it. Honestly, every time I read it, I found a few more things to add or correct, I was scared that I could never finish editing it so I put it up the way it is. I don't know if it still needs editing, so please tell me if you see anything, _anything_ wrong with it. Please. So please review, I hope you like this chapter too. And the new ones too, the action has already started. In the next chapter... well... I'm changing Little Icicle to my liking with good reasons, this way I can get the scenes that make me drool while keeping him in character... technically. Oh well. Again, please review!


	10. Chapter 10

10

Seiko hurried into her room and looked at the mess inside. This mess was the exact reason why no one was allowed in her room and her curtains were always closed. She sighed at the mess she could never believe she'd created and started digging around for her daggers, poisoned blades and tiny smoke-pepper bombs. She'd never liked to release her sword; it'd hurt her at the same time it'd make her stronger. She usually used some other tools and tricks to win. If only she couldn't win like that, she would release her sword. Since she would stay away from Seireitei for long, she took a considerable amount of trinkets with her.

She grabbed a bag from the depths of a pile of cloth and started tucking everything she had grabbed inside it. She also tucked in a few pair of gloves and two masks covered with bandage. Then she went on to her bathroom. She hurried to the locked cupboard and opened it easily. She grabbed the poisons resting in their crystal bottles, protected by a metal box, not letting them move an inch. She tucked it in the bag too. Then came her meds.

It was only natural that she liked to keep her reiatsu pressured to prevent it from hurting her. When not pressured the level of her reiatsu wouldn't let her sword to be sealed and she'd have to keep it in shikai which meant having a burning sword 24/7. No, she definitely didn't like that and yes, she would do almost anything to get Mayuri to make a refill for her when she was out of pills.

She hung the bag on her back and shunpoed towards the road she had left less than two minutes ago. As expected, Hitsugaya wasn't there. She ran the way to the gate and barely saw Hitsugaya disappearing into the gate. Two seconds later, she was in front of the gate herself. She was absolutely sure that Hitsugaya saw her before he waited a few seconds to catch her breath and sighed.

"Really, Captain, why not wait?" she mumbled to herself. Her hell butterfly appeared in front of her just as she stepped in front of the gate. She didn't waste any more time and followed th black bug into the gate. Soon she caught up with her captain.

"I'm back, Captain; but why didn't you wait for me?" Seiko complained. She wanted her answer, she believed Captain would never leave after he saw that she was coming.

"I told you I wouldn't wait." Hitsugaya replied coldly, glancing at her from the corner of his eye again. His stare was icy cold. It wasn't normal. It definitely wasn't like him.

"What's wrong with you, captain?" she asked, her worry reflected in her voice, "You're acting weird."

...

Hitsugaya didn't reply and kept on moving. Sure he didn't want to answer her question. As if he knew what was wrong with him! He wouldn't get so annoyed over anything and he felt so annoyed right now that he was taking it out on Seiko. It wasn't right. He wouldn't leave Seiko behind on purpose, not after he saw her coming – it wasn't just her, he wouldn't do that to any of his comrades. It was just not the way he was. And he wouldn't babble; but he sure felt like he had babbled back then when they were talking about... wait, what were they talking about back then? And when exactly was 'back then', anyways?

He fisted his hands to keep them from shaking and kept his expression as neutral as possible. He was going to solve this... this... this what? What was there to solve? What was he going to solve? Why was he going to solve? It felt weird; but he couldn't understand why. He couldn't understand what it was that he was feeling. He suddenly wondered what exactly he was doing.

His vision blurred as he kept on walking. He was starting to notice what a hard thing it was to do. One step at a time, keeping the balance and getting the timing right for the next step and standing straight in the process. Then stepping on the ground with the right angle to avoid falling on your butt just like a baby does when it's learning how to walk. He blinked hard to clear his vision. He was starting to remember how weak a newborn would be as his body felt too heavy to move normally. His vision blurred again as he stumbled and fell into the velvet stomach of darkness.

...

"Captain!" Seiko called to Hitsugaya and caught him by his arm as he stumbled, looking paler than normal. His colder than usual skin made her wonder if her body temperature had rocketed up again – and this was really something since it was Hitsugaya Toushirou she was touching: some kind of icy prince from the fairy tale books. The way he looked to her, at least.

"Are you okay, Captain?" she called to him worriedly. Hitsugaya's eyes looked unfocused for a second, as if he'd lost consciousness, then the light returned to them. He collected himself and pulled his arm from her grasp. She really didn't want to let go in case it happened again; but she did let go of his arm in the end.

"We can go back to the Soul Society, Captain." Seiko offered, "You really don't look too well."

"I'm okay. It's got to be the fatigue of yesterday's all-nighter. Let's keep going." Hitsugaya said as if nothing had just happened and went on walking towards the real world in the gate. Seiko followed him worriedly.

Hitsugaya acting strange was one thing; but almost fainting in the gate was a whole other thing. It was serious. And more than that, she wasn't liking the feeling he gave off. It was odd, but she didn't know how. The light in his eyes were kind of not right.

She didn't know what was worrying her so much, it just _felt_ wrong to her. Maybe she was just being delusional. She hoped he was just in a bad mood and decided to let it go. And maybe it was really because of the fatigue that he had fainted here. He was overworking himself for days now, and Senkai Gate had this weird reiatsu current that Seiko absolutely hated. And there was this colorless reiatsu added to it now, even worse than before.

After a few seconds of walking, the colorless reiatsu started to invade her five sense, leaving a feeling of emptiness inside of her so that she couldn't even feel fear. She let some of her flaming reiatsu go wild to burn the colorless reiatsu away; she didn't like that false calmness, it felt too fake to be relaxing. When it went away, the first thing she felt was that she hated the colorless reiatsu, the second feeling was worry. When she could focus more easily, she checked out her captain to see if he was feeling the same thing; but he seemed perfectly okay, like he noticed nothing. She relaxed a little.

It seemed that the reiatsu was wilder and stronger here in the gate and got stronger as they got closer to the real world. It meant they probably would have to protect themselves from whatever it might do to them. She wanted to know what exactly that would be. Jeez, that was shy she hated this kind of missions! How was she supposed to protect herself and her captain if she didn't know a single thing about the enemy? What if it attacked with a completely alien attack and she couldn't block it? Really, why not send Captain Mayuri instead of them anyways? He would do a far better job then them!

She felt the flaming reiatsu go wilder, starting to spread. She breathed and calmed herself down, preventing the flames from spreading and burning her limbs as it used to when she couldn't control its flow. Medicine's effect must be wearing off, she thought, the flames were getting powerful again. She'd be okay for a while more; but she would need to take a pill when they arrived the real world, that much she knew. She didn't like being pressured from inside by the flames. She'd liked to get rid of them, definitely; but the flames also made her feel safe. She was torn between the two feelings.

She had never understood why it was her the flames had 'chosen' though. It seemed that there were no explanation other than her nightmares from long ago where she got burned – and got burned nasty. Even remembering them made her tremble with fear. She didn't want to turn into her ashes in the end. But she really didn't remember what those dreams were about. She just remembered the pain in her limbs and hitting some painfully hot thing hoping it would break and set her free. She had no idea what that hot thing was, but it never gave way, not even in one dream.

Getting her shikai had been considerably hard because of that wild reiatsu she had. Whenever she tried to communicate with the flames, they would burn her. She knew that she only needed the name of her Zanpakutou; but the flames refused to talk to her. She was on the reiatsu-suppressor meds at that time, that was the only way for her to go to school. She had thought she couldn't release her sword because of the meds and "forgot" to take her meds on purpose. The result had been very exciting. Before she could start to meditate, hell, before she could even unsheathe it the sword had started burning and had burned its sheath too. Seiko still remembered how terrified she had felt at that time.

A bright light broke the chain of memories and pulled her back to reality. The door of Senkai Gate was right there in front of her. Seiko shook her head and focused back on the present, followed her captain towards the exit.

* * *

A/N: oh noes! what happened to Little Icicle? to tell the truth, i don't know it yet either. not too much. i mean, i do have a plot in my head but it' not fully completed and edited. but we'll get to see the icicle melting soon enough. it's written in my red notebook and i have to type it so it takes longer than expected. it's the reason why this chapter was shorter than usual. anyways, it's still up in a day so i'm not complaining. tell me if i made any grammar mistakes though, i didn't take my time editing. so! the mission's starting. hope you like the way the story went up to this point. please review, thank you!


	11. Chapter 11

warning! Ice Prince will be extremely OOC at times; just be patient and keep reading. please?

* * *

11

Seiko looked around as they stepped out and the doors of the gate disappeared behind them. They had come right in front of the Urahara Shop and Urahara Kisuke was in front of the door, waiting for them. He took two steps towards them and gave a smile that was supposed to be sweet. Seiko felt a chill run down her spine. It wasn't weird that he'd known exactly when and where they'd arrive. Hell, nothing would be weird if it was about Urahara Kisuke; the man was usually freaking her out, especially when that helpless dumb guy smile combined with the power beneath that weak mask of his.

"Welcome! Captain Hitsugaya! Seiko-chan!"

"Don't call me that, freak!" Seiko blurted before she could think. It had turned into a reflex that last time she had been to the real world. Whenever he called her name, she would automatically say that.

"My my, you're lively as always." Urahara smiled sweetly at her. He could have made a nice dad, she thought for a second, then beat the thought right out of her mind. She didn't need a father, that was a fact; but more importantly, she couldn't live as the daughter a man who had the potential to scare the life right out of her. No. Never.

"Soooo, why don't you come in?" Urahara asked, bowing slightly and pointing at the door elegantly with his fan. He could have been in a kimono with his face painted white, Seiko thought.

"Right." Hitsugaya responded coldly and walked towards the shop. She looked at him, at the shop and back at him before hurrying after him. Could he have calmed down this fast? She heard absolutly no hint of annoyance in his voice and she could always tell the mood he was in just by his tone. One minute before he had been so harsh and hating with her, his whole being had been overflowing with annoyance and now he was perfectly calm. It was surely the first time Seiko had witnessed such a thing with him. He could control himself perfectly when he wanted so; but it took him time to completely calm down. Oh well, she wasn't going to complain about him calming down now.

They went in to the back room of the shop where Ururu, with her timidness, served them some tea after they were handed their gigais by the creepy mountain – Seiko had never been good at remembering his name. It was then she noticed that she couldn't feel even a speck of colorless reiatsu inside the shop. She decided to ask about it later. There was a big silence that had been going on for a little too long now and she was a little scared the break the silence for it had almost materilized around them and was threatening to cut her up if she happened to make an noise. She took a big gulp of her tea to calm down instead. It was obviously hot enough to burn her whole mouth if she wasn't already invulnerable to heat. She patiently waited for someone to break the silence first. After a few more quiet minutes, Urahara finally spoke.

"Sooo! Captain Hitsugaya and Seiko-chan-"

"Don't call me that, freak!"

"-were sent here to investigate the alien reiatsu, I guess?" Urahara completed his sentence as if he was never interrupted.

"Yes." Hitsugaya replied, he had also ignored Seiko's automatic interruption.

"I've noticed it isn't present here in the shop." Seiko said, awaiting an explanation.

"You're pretty sharp about it." Urahara smiled at her, sending shivers down her spine, "Yes, I have put up some kind of filter around the shop when it first appeared here in Karakura."

"Why would you need to do that?" Seiko asked. He would always have a reason to do something.

"Well, I just felt like it; but it seems I was pretty much right doing this, after the sudden disappearances and deaths of people with unusual spirit force." Urahara said smiling; but his eyes gleamed under the shadow of his hat.

Seiko felt herself gasp with suprise and panic started to rise inside her. She had no idea things were this serious here. She had learned that the real world was in this mess just about ten minutes ago; but she had never thought it was this deep in a mess. The mission was a lot more than she had imagined in Seireitei. She absolutely regretted now underestimating the mission, just as she regretted accepting it. She wasn't good enough for such an extreme "investigation" mission, the panic was already starting to climp up her throat. She gulped it down before it escaped her throat as a hysterical squeak and looked at her captain to draw strength from his presence. As always his face was calm and collected, though his eyes were slightly narrowed and darker than usual.

"I was never informed of this." Hitsugaya stated slowly. So he didn't know either. Seiko turned her eyes on Urahara.

"Soul Society wasn't informed of these deaths and disappearances." Urahara literally answered his never-asked question, "I didn't want to cause an uproar there when they have enough to deal with." he completed with a serious voice and expression, then turned to Seiko and smiled sweetly: "Right, Seiko-chan?"

"Don't call me that, freak!" Seiko muttered under her breath before she even realized herself. She had to get over that habit.

"Wouldn't it make more sense if we were informed about every detail of such a thing?" Hitsugaya asked. He had not raised his voice; but the power in his words had clearly increased, "Soul Society is responsible of this world's safety too. Also, I assume it isn't a good idea to keep things from Captain Mayuri since he cannot find an answer for us with faulty information. Am I wrong?"

Seiko shuddered instinctively. She was used to her captain's cold and the power in his words though it never ceased to amaze her; but this time was different. His words were persuasive, his eyes were closed up to the world, refusing to show anything that was going on in his mind. His reiatsu was far too dark compared to before. Before, she would say it was teal or more like 'Caribbean Sea Green' as she'd heard; but now it was colder. It was more blue, colder and duller; yet it was deeper and stronger. It was a weird, wrong color; but she didn't know why it was so wrong. Neither did she know why she was getting so worried.

"Oooh! Mayuri!" Urahara smiled cheerfully, "So he is also in this! I need not worry then!" after saying this, he turned serious again, sending chills down Seiko's spine, "But if I told him about this and Soul Society rushed to send a bunch of Shinigami here, we could have lost the chance to investigate it. Moreover, we still don't know what kind of effect it may have on the Shinigami that come here, passing Senkai Gate which happens to be our weak spot." Urahara grinned. Seiko sweated. Had he just implied what Seiko understood? What exactly had he meant? How could she get him to say it openly?

"I see what you mean. We'll see how it'll effect us with time." Hitsugaya said as an end to that part of discussion, then continued, "So is this all we know about the alien reiatsu?"

"I managed to gather some information; but it's mostly uncertain. We don't have any choice but to wait for it to show itself I guess – whatever it is. I recommend you to rest since we don't know what you will have to face." Urahara said, hiding his face behind his fan. The way his eyes gleamed made Seiko want to shrink up and disappear; but that wouldn't happen of course, so she focused on what his words could mean. He had said 'itself' so he definitely thought the colorless reiatsu had a source that had a conscience. That was all she could make out at the time.

"I'd prefer going on a search tour before that. Could you lend me a soul candy?" Hitsuagya asked. Seiko looked at him for a second.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I thought you were tired." Seiko said. Something in his tone had disturbed her, so she wanted to be cautious.

"I'm okay, you worry too much." Hitsugaya said. Seiko decided to let it go. She somehow felt like not pursuing it woud be better for her own good this time.

"Alright then." Urahara said after a very short silence that felt like he was calculating something in his mind. Then he turned to Seiko and smiled. "What about you, Seiko-chan?"

Seiko shuddered but managed to stop herself from calling him freak again. It was going to be hard completely giving up the habit; but in this mission, Urahara was probably her most important ally so she had to be nice to him. Not that he looked like he minded her calling him freak, but still.

"You're pretty detached today. Why don't you stay here, rest and let your Captain satisfy himself, hmm?" Urahara said when she didn't answer.

_How the hell can I refuse when you're asking so sweetly?_ Seiko screamed inside her head. How could he expect her to say tell her honest opinion when he talked that way and freaked her shitless? Wait, maybe he wasn't expecting such a thing. Maybe he had a plan or something; but what could be? It didn't make sense at all. Well, she would give the same answer either way; if that was what he wanted.

"Alright, it would be good." she answered, trying to put on a geniuine smile with her best acting abilities. The last thing she wanted to do righ now was to smile, though. But she didn't have a choice right now.

"I'd rather have you watch my back, though." she heard Hitsugaya say with a blank voice. Seiko turned to look at him slowly, wondering what she would do. She couldn't say no to Urahara; but she couldn't refuse an order from Captain either. What she saw, though, cleared all thoughts off of her mind. She blinked a few times, unable to believe her eyes. Her captain's normally expressionless face was clearly lit with a _smirk!_ That was a sight she had never seen, not even once in her life and this wasn't helping at all. _Oh, dammit!_ He had always been so hot, so dreamy in her eyes and she had always locked away her teenage blabbering about that, satisfied with what she had and doing her best to be professional; but with him looking at her like that...

"Umm, so, what do you choose?" Urahara's voice brought her a little closer to reality.

"I think I'll bear the fatigue for a little and accompany Captain Hitsugaya." Seiko smiled at Urahara. She was surprised that her voice was extremely normal, she definitely didn't feel _normal_. She felt like she was in the clouds still, with the effect of the smile she had seen for the first time in her life. Like she would choose to stay. Like any girl would choose to stay when the other option was to go with Hitsugaya who wanted her around and was so absolutely hypnotizing and hot... wait, hot? And wanting her around, huh? She smacked herself mentally and turned entirely to solid reality. No matter how enchanted she was by the Ice Prince, she couldn't afford not to notice the extreme weirdness of the situation. It was almost, _almost_ like he was _flirting_ with her. She had three words for this: No. Damn. Way. Something was extremely off.

Seiko heard Urahara's words ringing in her ear. They still had no idea what kind of effect passing the Senkai Gate would have. She tensed her muscles to keep her face in the same smiling expression. What if the fainting wasn't just fatigue? The weird changes in his actions kind of proved it. Well, she had already accepted his offer, now she couldn't turn back; but she didn't like losing the chance to talk to Urahara alone because of her silly teenage hormone things or whatever. Looking on the bright side, she could watch over him during the city tour; but she'd have to act clueless like she had noticed nothing. Well, she could manage that. But, no matted how much she didn't like him, she had to talk to Urahara about what was happening to Hitsugaya. Urgent.

* * *

A/N: wow, i actually finished typing the full chapter today! i'm happy. personally, i like the places where Hitsu-chan isn't the Little Icicle anymore because those are my personal fantasies; but i'm fully aware that this Hitsu can't last long, it'll ruin the whole story. and you know what? Seiko wouldn't want this to last either. she's some kind of mazochist that likes it better when Hitsu is out of reach... or maybe just wants him to be fully himself that's all, haha! ah, i'm blabbering. again. i feel kinda hyper right now. i got my test results, seems i'm highly anemic and i got my contact lenses today, it's a first. oh, i bet no one wants to read my daily life here. anyways. Hope you liked this chapter enough to look forward to the next, please review! i mean it, please tell me everything you think directly, i really do want that. thank you!

P.S:Unnamed, there _is_ a reason to Little Icicle's weirdness though i don't know how sensible it is. i hope you like it when you read it, and please tell me directly if it's extremely silly when you read; i can change it immediately. Also, i'd like to hear your ideas about what it could be, if you'd like to share.


	12. Chapter 12

12

"I'll get your futons ready by the night. I'm expecting you to return before midnight, if you don't mind. Ururu!"

The little timid girl slowly came inside the room with her distinctive slow walking. She had two tiny cotton bags in her hand; one baby blue and one pink. Seiko stifiled a sigh and suppessed the need to roll her eyes at the girl. It was probably her that decorated the candies like that; but Seiko wondered whose idea it was.

Ururu handed the baby blue bag to Hitsugaya and the pink one to Seiko. Seiko stifiled another sigh and opened her bag to find her candy. She was kind of expecting her candy to be a pink bead decorated with little hearts or something; but the candy was normal at least. She gulped it down and got out of her gigai then took a quick glance at it which made her want to giggle hysterically. Her gigai had already taken the perfect kneeling position in front of the table with that flawless noble lady posture that Seiko could never manage. She had never seen herself look so noble, so gentle, so _feminine;_ even in the thousands of different kimonos Matsumoto made her wear. She could guess who prepared the soul candies. She glanced at her captain's gigai, wondering if she could see anything funny; but it was also sitting with a stern expression on its face that wasn't much different from his original expression.

"Seiko." Hitsugaya called. She turned to look at him. He was looking at her with his usual expressionless face. He was calling her to mission? Outside? Probably. He was mostly a one-word commander. When he called your name, you'd have to know what to do. Seiko was totally used to it right now.

"Coming." Seiko said and reached for her bag, pulled out one pill and swallowed quickly, this would do for about two days. The last pill's effect was about to wear off now and she wouldn't take the risk of not being able to control her flames in the middle of something important. She had enough to deal with already.

When she was finished and turned around, Hitsugaya walked out of the door too. He was obviously expecting her to go right after him. She looked back at Urahara for a second. He was dead serious. When he pointed her out, her heart skipped a beat. He was dead serious for once and it mostly verified that she hadn't been wrong when she assumed there was something seriously wrong. For that one second, Seiko didn't hide the worry that struggled to show on her face, then she collected herself and followed her captain out with the poker face she wore on her worry.

...

Darkness started to dissolve around him; but still there wasn't much light around. He felt more than he saw that the moon shone on his face. Its light was warming, soothing, protective and romantic. He fell in love with the moonlight for a brief second, then he forgot that he had fallen in love with it. The moonlight, though, continued shining on him, embracing him, stroking his hair and ending in his eyes.

How long had it been since he had last seen light? Seconds? Days? Years? Decades? He had no idea how much time had passed since he had last seen something – anything. He locked his eyes on the moon, drinking it greedily, savoring its taste. He felt his legs start to numb. He had forgotten how hard it was to stand on his own two feet. It must have been decades... yes, decades since he had last heard the rustle of leaves or the wind blowing all around him; since he had last felt the touch of the refreshing coolness and softness of his clothes; since he had last smelled the air of night... since he had last remembered his own name.

"Tou... shirou..." he whispered into the night and the shadow of a lost smile started to form on his lips as the moonlight seemed to embrace him tighter, ruffling his hair with untouchable love, becalming the teal eyes that had long forgotten the beauty of the crescent moon. He fell in love with the moon for a brief second. Then he forgot he had fallen in love with it.

"Captain?" sang a voice from behind, filling his ears with incredible music, joy and warmth. He looked away from the moonlight just to see the owner of the song. He saw a burning light and the phantom of a human in the light, getting bigger every second. His heart started to beat again as his insides woke up from their frozen slumber for a split second before his vision started to blur again. the darkness and _the nothingness_, the deep slumber he had been sleeping and the frozen numbness that had been with him for decades came over him again as he did absolutely nothing to break free.

...

"Captain?" Seiko called with a low voice, careful not to disturb anything that might be around. Her captain looked enchanted, somehow, by the evening moonlight. She didn't like how nights were so long in winter; but _he_ seemed to love them a lot.

Hitsugaya stopped moon-gazing and slowly turned around to look at Seiko. Something was off, she knew itin her gut; but it was kind of weird that she felt better looking at his dozed off eyes. He looked absolutely not okay to her eyes; but in her gut, she felt better. It was as if he was staring into nothingness; his eyes were looking at something she couldn't see at the same time they looked at her. Then suddenly his eyes focused again, the light that felt seriously wrong was there in his eyes. _Just like when we were in th gate._ It should definitely be reported to Urahara, she noted in the corner of her mind.

"Are we going?" she asked, just to have said something. She smiled slightly, she hoped her expression was like the one she wore usually around him. Too bad she had never cared to examine how her expression changed depending on which muscle she moved. Now it was all up to luck for her.

"We're starting off with east. Let's make sure it's clear." Hitsugaya said with a sligt smile playing on his lips – which was too weird now that Seiko had started paying attention. She nodded slightly anyways, then Hitsugaya set off. She matched her speed to his and followed him about two feet behind.

Karakura was surely a tiny town; they reached east in less then two minutes. It could as well have something to do with them shunpoing; but anyways. Seiko watched Hitsugaya carefully as he checked around, careful not to let him notice anything about it. She saw something off in every single move he did; but she didn't say anything. She was going to stop him only if he did something really wrong, unusual or weird. She hoped she never would have to, though.

Time went on as they checked around for anything unusual. There was nothing else but the usual colorless reiatsu flow that didn't change in density or power. As they reached the north district which was the last place left, something in the flow suddenly stirred. Seiko immediately looked at Hitsugaya, waiting for his commands; it was a habit. But he was walking like he had noticed nothing. Was it her imagination? Was Seiko too tense? Or maybe he really didn't notice it because of whatever happened to him. In case that was the reason, she wasn't going to say anything.

The colorless reiatsu flow stirred again. Chills went down her spine. Gosh, things were so eerie around here! Urahara Kisuke, Hitsugaya's weirdness, the colorless reiatsu... everything was very creepy lately.

The stability of the flow disappeared and it started coming in giant waves that made it hard to keep in balance with it. It invaded her world for a second, then it completely disappeared, then it came again. She looked around – at least she tried – to find out what was causing this; but there was nothing visible and the reiatsu waves already made her spiritual perception go down to zero. Thankfully, the waves subsided in about one minute and the stability of the flow returned. She shook her head as if she wanted to shake the shock of it away.

"What was that just now?" she muttered under her breath. She had decided that Hitsugaya had to have noticed this much change at least.

"I don't know." Hitsugaya answered her with an equally shaken voice, "But I think we can consider this a forewarning of something big."

"Let's return to the shop, Captain." said Seiko, more like she was pleading, "It's getting creepier every second. I don't want to face this something big unless I actually have method of handling it."

Hitsugaya stayed silent for a few seconds, then answered her quietly: "Right, let's go."

They didn't use shunpo on the way back. Not that she minded. She didn't want to disturb the flow so she was very pleased by the fact that they simply ran their way down to Urahara shop. Gazing at his back, she thought about what could have happened to him. It was obvious that whatever happened to him was because of the colorless reiatsu; what she hated was that she had no idea what happened. She hated the vagueness. She hated the idea of her being unable to protect him and for the first time in her life, silently she prayed: _dear God, if you do exist, please don't let him die before me. He's a little too precious for me not to follow even in death._

A door creaked.

Seiko suddenly snapped from her daze to look around as they both stopped immediately at the sound. Nothing looked out of place. Then the door creaked again. This time she could tell which direction it came from and quickly turned around to look that way. It was nothing too out of ordinary. A door had opened and a child had appeared right behind it. Seiko couldn't tell his gender; but he looked six years old. And a little dozed off, Seiko noticed, when the kid took a few steps forward and stepped under the light. It would be just a usual sight if the kid wasn't staring directly at the two shinigami.

"What are you doing, kid?" Seiko called to the child suddenly, surprised that she had actually done that. It was a really weird and meaningless action, considering the child probably wouldn't even hear her. But the child tilted his head to the side very slightly. Could it really be?

"Hey, did you hear me?"Seiko called to the kid again and immediately felt Hitsugaya's cold grasp on her arm. At the same time, the colorless reiatsu stirred. _Again._ She looked at captain's face, wanting some kind of explanation; but all she got was a stern look that she could never read. She stayed quiet, it seemed like that was what he wanted. She looked back at the kid still standing there. The kid stayed motionless for a few second before taking a few steps back into the house and closing the door with another creak that made Seiko shudder. Hitsugaya let go of her arm after that.

"What in the world was that? And why did you hush me?" Seiko breathed quietly. Hitsugaya gazed at the house for a while before looking at her.

"You have no idea how much power your voice carries, do you?" he said smoothly.

"How can that be possible?" Seiko laughed, unable to hold back. That was it? That was the explanation? It definitely didn't satisfy her.

"You don't have the luxury of trifling your reiatsu here and now, under such circumstances." Hitsugaya replied.

"Aye, aye." Seiko breathed but didn't say anything more to oppose. She had forgotten that she was supposed to act like everything he said was right. She would correct him only if he did big mistakes and this little thing was no big mistake. When they started running again, she tried to feel and weaken the power in her voice bofore muttering her question – though it was an useless attempt.

"So, what was that kid?" she asked.

"I don't know for sure; but most probably, it was just a kid with high reiatsu." Hitsugaya replied.

"Is that why he looked so weird? I mean, Urahara said-"

"Yeah, that should be it." Hitsugaya interefered. That was the end of the conversation, Seiko knew that tone. He didn't want to say anything more. So she quieted down and took the lead from Hitsugaya as she picked up the pace. She wanted to reach the shop as soon as possible so she was running as if she was running for her life. Hitsugaya soon matched her speed too. Seiko soon sped up even more. She hated to admit it; but she really needed Urahara and the safety and knowledge only he could provide right now.

* * *

A/N: i know, this one took longer than usual. but i have reasons! i spent almost all of the day sleeping yesterday cuz i've been too tired for about a week now, if not, this chappy would be up yesterday. anyways. here we're returning to shop Urahara. hopefully we'll talk to him in the next chappy. i know things aren't going that fast right now and i'm sorry for that; but this process is needed. i can't just jump to the battling parts(oops!) like that, i need some process for that. just be patient for a little more while. i'm doing my best typing; but remember that i'm still a med student even when i'm in holiday and i have so much to do already. anyways, please tell me if there's anything wrong or anything you wanna see in this story. please review, thanks!

P.S: Unnamed, you're right about your theories except the growing up part(i believe he'll grow up when his bankai is completed) and that's why i could say it's a little... classic. i wanted to surprise(and maybe shock) you and all the others who'd read this; but that was the only idea that would come to my mind. oh well, guess the process is more important than the idea itself. hope you like the way things go from now on too.


	13. Chapter 13

13

The journey to Urahara shop took less time than she had expected. Maybe because she kept speeding up all the way back without using shunpo. Urahara and his smile greeted them at the door again as they entered the protected territory of the shop and its garden. Despite the chills running down her spine, she felt majorly relieved to be back inside the safe zone.

"Welcome back, Seiko-chan!" Urahara waved at her, completely ignoring Hitsugaya. Seiko managed to fully swallow her automatic response this time and was pleased with herself; but she didn't answer back. Hitsugaya walked forward while she stood there like a statue.

"Oh, Captain Hitsugaya! Welcome to you too!" Urahara said.

"Yeah." Hitsugaya greeted him back. Seiko snapped out of her statue act and followed her captain towards the door. Just before they got inside Urahara turned serious – which wasn't so freaky compared to his smiling self, Seiko noticed.

"So, anything weird?" Urahara asked, theoretically to both of them; but his eyes were fixed on Seiko's own. She knew that the question was meant for her.

"Sort of." she answered, "Let's get inside and we'll tell you the story." then she continued walking after her captain into the back room. She hoped that Urahara would get the hint. He had asked if there was anything weird and she had answered yes; but of course she couldn't say that in front of Hitsugaya, she needed Urahara in private.

After they went back inside their gigais, they sat around the low table again and Ururu served some tea. Seiko finished it in one go and got a refill, she felt thirsty. Urahara took a sip from his tea and sighed.

"So, tell me what happened now." Urahara literally ordered, though his tone was soft. There had been a comfortable silence while he was quiet, Seiko realized, as his question made her tense again.

"Not too much, but it's worth telling, I guess?" Seiko breathed. Urahara stayed quiet and waited patiently for her to continue.

"I believe the owner of the reiatsu is almost strong enough to destroy both this world and the Soul Society; but it can't control that power properly which is pretty much fortunate for us." Hitsugaya interrupted the patient silence surroınding them.

"Yeah." Seiko said, relieved that she didn't have to think where to start anymore, "This means it won't do much harm as long as we don't disturb its flow."

"Or the owner." Urahara added, hiding his face behind his fan.

"What do you mean?" Seiko asked, feeling a little silly.

"Acts that disturb the owner of this much uncontrolled reiatsu won't work for our favor." Hitsugaya answered quickly.

"Exactly." Urahara approved.

"We can manage not disturbing the flow itself; but how do we deicede what will disturb the owner and what won't?" Seiko asked after a very short silence.

"That's the problem. We don't." Urhara said in a matter-of-fact tone, "So we have to be extra careful about our actions until we figure something out.

"What are you going to do about it? Do you have any clues about how to..." her voice trailed off, leaving the question unfinished. She wasn't sure how she'd continue that question; but Urahara somehow knew what she wanted to ask.

"I didn't figure out much yet; but don't worry about it." Urahara smiled at her, creeping her out again, "We do have plenty of time to figure something out."

"How do you know that?" Hitsugaya asked exaclty what Seiko was thinking.

"From my sources, here and there." Urahara smiled sweetly. _This_ was exactly what always freaked Seiko out. This sweet sweet smile that carried such deep danger inside. This smile that told her there could be anything under his disguise. She had to remind herself that he was an ally in this mission – her only ally maybe. She had to trust her and remember that he was on her side, that his danger wasn't meant for her, that she was safe in his care. Though that was a hard job, looking at the sweet smile that lingered on his face.

"How reliable are those sources of yours?" Hitsugaya asked, his voice full of doubt.

"Reliable enough." Urahara answered him, his smile getting even more sweet. Seiko watched anxiously as some kind of understanding session went on between the two men – or the boy and the man, to be more precise. Then the tension she felt in the air dissolved.

"Guess I don't have a choice but to trust you anyways." Hitsugaya said, closing his eyes and lowering his chin a little. It looked like some kind of surrendering to Seiko; then she beat the weird thoughts right out of her mind. Her imagination was overly active nowadays. How often would someone imagina his captain as a _puppy_ anyways? Oh, well; maybe Matsumoto would do that often, but...

"So, before you go to rest, would you mind telling me what exactly happened out there?" Urahara asked; closing his fan and tapping it lightly on the wooden table.

"We were using shunpo; then the flow of reiatsu lost its stability when we were at north, came at us in waves. They subsided in about one minute. I'm guessing our reiatsu disturbed the flow or the owner somehow." Seiko summed quickly.

"I see, then it's somehow safe to say that the root is close to north district. Good thing you found that out." Urahara commented, "Anything else?"

"Nope, nothing." Seiko said, she had decided not telling him about the kid in front of Hitsugaya wasn't a good idea. Urahara then opened his fan and stood up.

"Now then, please rest." he said before getting out of the room. Ururu entered right after he got out.

"Please follow me." she said timidly, then turned around and started leading the way with her usual distinctive penguin-walk. They stood up and followed her further inside. Next to a little door she stopped.

"Your room is here, Hoshikaze-san." Ururu said, "Rest well."

"Thanks." Seiko tried to smile at the girl before going inside. She didn't know how successful she had been, though. She heard their footsteps go further inside and listened to them until they disappeared – it didn't take long since both footsteps were very light. Then she leaned against the door and looked around the tiny room. There was a futon, a little window and a tiny space to walk around in the room. She wasn't expecting much anyways. She was okay with anywhere as long as she could sleep and with her energy condition right now, she could fall asleep very soundly just about anywhere.

She didn't open the light and went next to the window. The moon looked beautiful. She liked daytime better; but the crescent moon somehow managed to enlighten the night just so beautifully that Seiko couldn't bring herself to look away. She let her eyelids lower on her eyes and tried to find enough strength to think about the day's events.

She sighed. There was a lot. It had been such a long day. And a really weird, tiring, scary long day at that. And she knew almost nothing. The idea really annoyed her; but that was the truth this time. She tried to get her thoughts in order, so much had happened that she was starting to get confused. What had happened? She was working in the office, then Hitsugaya came and told her they were going to real world. He was absolutelty not himself, then in Senkai gate, he had fainted. At the real world, after getting their gigais, she had learned that people had been dying and going missing. Then Hitsugaya had wanted to go on a search and smiled at her which was absolutely out of character for him – he never ever smiled no matter how happy what had happened was. Seiko had agreed to go with him, then the reiatsu had lost control. After that passed, they had seen the absolutely weird little kid. Then returned to the shop.

Now that she thought about it, there hadn't been too much that happened. When she organized and simplified it, it didn't sound too much. But when her own feelings and questions came in, everything messed up. What had happened to Hitsugaya? What was changing him this much? She could pretty much guess it was the colorless reiatsu; but what exactly was this reiatsu? How could it be that powerful? Who or what exactly was the owner? What was its motive? How was it affecting Hitsugaya? How could she save him from it? How could she beat... beat... beat what? What exactly was she trying to fight? She shook her head, it always became such a mess whenever she let it free just a little. She sighed again.

"Did you know, Seiko-chan, that every sigh takes away half of your life away?"

Seiko shivered from head to toes and turned to look at the door slowly. She could swear her eyes were scattering lightnings around.

"Don't sneak up on me, Urahara Kisukeee... you're scary enough as it is already!" Seiko grumbled, her voice shaking just like her body.

"Haha, that hurt." Urahara laughed it away, "May I come in?"

With that Seiko noticed he was still standing next to the door. She was kind of surprised to see such behaviour, she still remembered the time he woke her up poking her forehead rhythmically. She wondered if he had been affected by the reiatsu too; then remembered that the shop was the safe zone and threw away the thought. Maybe he had just wanted to annoy her back then and was usually like this. Well, she didn't have to think about this right now. She took a deep breath to stop her shaking.

"Sure, go on." Seiko said and sat on her futon, crossing her legs. Urahara sat in front of her the same way. There was a very short silence, then Urahara started talking.

"I assume... no, I'm sure you have noticed too."

He didn't say anything more. Seiko knew he meant the same thing. She nodded softly.

"Tell me everything, every single thing, in detail." Urahara practically ordered. Seiko didn't feel that way, though. Somehow she was sure that he meant good and trusted him completely, without a hint of eeriness.

"Have any theories?" Seiko asked, just out of curiosity.

"I do have some. What you tell me might make some things clearer, so I will explain after you tell me, if you don't mind." Urahara said. These words were supposed to annoy her; but she didn't let them. He was her only ally and the only one that she could hope help from. So she started to tell the story, from the start, not skipping one single detail. Urahara listened to her, never interfering, never commenting. He just nodded as she kept telling the story. When she finished, there was a silence. She looked at Urahara as he thought, looking down, his face hidden under his hat.

"So?" Seiko asked after a while, "What will you say about it now?"

"I can say that I'm not too surprised." Urahara breathed, then looked back up at Seiko. His eyes were glowing with some kind of light Seiko always failed to understand.

"I expected that much." Seiko muttered.

"What bugs me the most is the little kid you saw." Urahara continued. Now _that_ would surprise Seiko.

"Why would he bug you? I know I told you he was acting very weird; but..."

"No, no; his very existance is weird. You said he looked directly at you, like he could see you, correct?"

"Absolutely."

"Which means, even if he couldn't see you, he must have sensed your very presence. I can say that his spiritual energy is pretty higher than usual. The thing is, all of the people like him have either disappeared or died. Including one newborn and seven other kids."

"So you say him being alive is an issue itself." Seiko said, finally understanding.

"Exactly." Urahara nodded.

"So what do you think it could be?" Seiko asked.

"I'm not very sure yet, I'll research it thoroughly tonight." Urahara said, stayed quiet for two seconds, then continued, "And about Captain Hitsugaya's case. He was affected by this in the Soul Society first, you must have noticed too. Senkai Gate is naturally weaker to reiatsu changes, so the reiatsu must have been more effective in there. Whatever it did, it did in there and you saw it as Hitsugaya fainting. All I found out from this is that the owner of the reiatsu uses pure reiatsu to attack; he doesn't give it any shape."

"Couldn't it be something minor?" Seiko asked, hoping the answer would be positive.

"To tell the truth, I have started the analysis of Captain Hitusgaya's reiatsu the best without his cooperation and I'm not getting very good results. I'd rather assume it's serious, just in case." Urahara said.

"Then, what about your theories?" Seiko asked. She really wanted some answers.

"Those aren't complete yet, Seiko-chan." Urahara said, hiding his face behind his fan. Seiko knew he wouldn't tell her anything. Not yet, at least. As much as she hated being left in the dark, not knowing anything about how to protect her captain; but she also knew that Urahara had his reasons, so she couldn't pressure him further. Well, she probably wouldn't be able to help if she knew anything either. She sweeped away her emotions for once and thought clearly. Thinking rationally, in this situation, she just needed some commands. No more doubts, she told herelf. She wasn't the one with the information or qualification for such a mission, so she would simply obey.

"What should I do?" she asked firmly. Urahara lowered his fan, his smile was very small but a real one this time.

"What you've done today. I'll be satisfied with it. Act normal, observe, look after Captain Hitsugaya. Look out for the kid. That's all." Urahara said with a soft voice.

"Okay." Seiko nodded firmly, but then suddenly lost all of her strength and bowed her head to hide her expression. No matter what, she was still a teenager and she could say that she had an obsession for her captain that could be pathological if uncontrolled, even if she would never admit it to anyone. But more than that, she had been with him for such a long time, she was so attached to him, she valued him so much. Maybe more than her own life.

"Will he be alright?" she asked, almost like a whisper. She couldn't help it, she needed to know. Maybe, she needed someone to tell her that he'd be okay.

"Do you really want the truth, or would you prefer if I lied to you?" Urahara asked back. The question itself explained so much. Seiko snorted though she definitely didn't have fun.

"Neither." She answered, not raising her head. After a very short silence, she felt his hand on her head, ruffling her hair. She was more than surprised, she was shocked. She raised her head and saw him smiling at her. Another smile that was real, that didn't creep her out but warmed her up.

"He might be, but only if you try your best." Urahara said. Seiko tried to collect herself, closed her opened mouth and nodded. Urahara then stood up and went towards the door. Before he went out he turned to her and smiled with his usual freaky smile.

"Good night then, Seiko-chan!"

"Don't call me that, freak." Seiko said softly, not meaning a word of it. Urahara smiled even wider, hid his face behind his fan and closed the door after him.

"Good night to you too." Seiko said after he closed the door, then she changed into her pajamas and laid down in her futon. Watching the ceiling, she realized that her questions were much more well-behaved than before in her head. Now they weren't messing up everything, they were just staying quietly at their corner, waiting to be answered. Tomorrow was probably going to be another long day. She was going to do her best and hope Urahara found out something soon. All she wanted was to save Hitsugaya from whatever was happening to him. She drifted off to sleep praying to whatever god that might exist.

* * *

A/N: chapter complete! finally... took me years, i cut away half of the original story in the red notebook, changed the rest and added lots of parts. it was like writing it a second time and i'm not so good at writing fast you know. whatever. not too many questions answered, i know, and i know it might be boring; but these are the chapters that must be written, please understand and please be patient. the end of the talk with Urahara... well, i really like Urahara so i wanted Seiko to like him too; but i just can't make it happen without a reason and she really really really doesn't like him... didn't like him, should i say? cuz i think she kinda does right now. oh well. hope you liked this chapter too! please review, thanks!

P.S: the quality probably wouldn't drop too much, Unnamed. I have the story written down in my red notebook; because right after i started the past, i started writing this weirdness part in my red notebook. it was supposed to be just an excuse for my own fantasies about Hitsu; but it somehow turned out this way which i'm pretty much happy with. hope you're still liking the story though it's a little boring right now.


	14. Chapter 14

14

The night, lit by the crescent moon, was long, cold and eerie. There was no trace of a sound or a smell in the air. It was too still, so still that the whole north district seemed dead, as if everything was a photograpg, only not 2D but 3D. As if time was standing still. A door creaked in deep silence. Its effect was almost like a bomb in that perfect silence. The night air trembled. The door creaked again, revealing the insides of the house it should have been hiding. A kid slowly walked out of the door, just as silent as the night.

The Kid looked dirty. He had a light shirt that seemed too large for him. His shorts' knees were ripped. He was wearing very old and weary sandals. His hair was a bit long and was messed up. He seriously looked poor.

The door creaked close after the kid was finally out of the house. His shadow was tall and unusually dark under the moonlight and the light that came from the streetlight. He walked slowly in the little garden of the house. He looked so tiny. His face was pretty empty, the exception being the visible pain and suffering in his eyes.

The Kid sighed. The night stirred. A few leaves fell from their branches. An uneasy wind blew softly around the houses, between the leaves for a short time. One single bat flapped its wings towards its home, away from The Kid. He walked back towards the house. The door creaked open again, the kid went in and the door closed behind him, leaving the night as still as it was.

...

"Wake up, Seiko!"

Seiko jumped at the deep voice and looked around to see her captain. She saw him at the edge of the door. He was standing tall from the angle she was looking, with the usual cold look on his face. Seiko sighed.

"What's it, Captain?" she tried to ask with her sleepy voice, which came out more like "Whassit, Cap'n?"

"Morning, what else? We're not here for a vacation." He breathed, looking a little annoyed.

"Aye, aye." Seiko whined sleepily, ruffling her already messy hair even more messy. She had forgotten that they were in the real world. She had hoped it was just a really vivid and long dream. Of course it wasn't. She should have known.

"Hurry up and get ready." Hitsugaya ordered and closed the door. Seiko rubbed her eyes as she listened to his footsteps disappear. She looked at the clock. It was seven in the morning. Well, wasn't her captain pretty energetic today? It was so early, even for him. She didn't know when they had slept; but she doubted they had slept more than six hours. Oh well, she was pretty much okay with it, she was used to it.

She quickly changed her clothes and got over with the morning cleaning rituals, then hurried to the room that Urahara used as a living room – the back room of the shop. They had already started eating before her. She greeted everyone and without losing any more time she dove into the food. She had just realized how hungry she actually was. Even though the food was very simple, she was just grateful that she could get something in her endless stomach.

"Thanks for the food!" she sighed happily after she finished eating – along with all the rice that had been cooked for the breakfast, "So what are we doing up this early, Captain?"

"We're getting ready for the investigation." Hitsugaya said, sipping his tea.

"You've been eating for an hour and a half, Seiko-chan." Urahara said, fanning himself. Seiko looked at the watch. It was really half past eight. She giggled.

"Yeah, I do lose myself when it comes to food, sorry." she answered, definitely not meaning the 'sorry' part. As if she'd be sorry just because her flames had a huge appetite. The flames could be sorry in her place. "So, do we have a target today or are we patrolling around again?"

"Just patrolling wouldn't be very much of use, right?" Urahara smiled and blinked at her. She took it as a sign that he found out more while she was sleeping. But the Seiko before – the one that always got freaked out of his smile and got annoyed with every single word of his – would definitely think of it as Urahara mocking her and would get annoyed as hell. So she sighed with annoyance before talking.

"And what would you suggest?" she asked with a smile she hoped that looked forced.

"Focus your investigations on the north, for now that's all I can say."

"Oh! A great difference!" Seiko said mockingly, finding out it was surprisingly satisfying, "We're patrolling the north district, really, that made the whole patrolling thing all the more meaningful."

"Stop complaining." Hitsugaya warned her. Yeah, _don't complain._ She had forgotten that he used to do that. Even when he was like this(though she didn't know what _this_ really meant) that rule didn't change it seemed.

"If you find the root, do _not_ act." Urahara continued, "Just tell me and stay on hold, don't do anything until you hear from me."

"Got me that." Seiko nodded.

"If that's all, then we should head out as soon as possible." Hitsugaya said, putting his tea cup on the table.

"Wait, I've got one last question! What exactly should we look out for?" Seiko asked quickly.

"We don't know." Urahara blew her his sweetest –which meant creepiest – smile.

"Then how are we supposed to patrol effectively when we have no idea what to look out for?" Seiko asked.

"Trust your instincts and _stop complaining_." Hitsugaya reminded her.

"Aye, aye." she said and quieted down. The second warning had come sooner than she had expected, she really must have been complaining. But it was the truth that she always failed to understand how it was possible to search something that you don't know what it is. She thought that if she didn't know, then she wouldn't notice that she found it even if she did find it out by luck somehow. That was why she respected researchers, they somehow managed to do what she could never do.

"Also, you will stay in the gigais this time." Urahara said.

"And why could that be?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Isn't it better if we're in Shinigami form? We won't be seen by anyone thus we'll be able to move freely." Seiko said.

"I've started to think that the reiatsu is tamer when the sun is up; but it reacts much harsher to exceptionally high reiatsu. Though I don't know the reason for it yet, that seems to be pattern so we'll go along with it." Urahara said.

"And what good will the gigais do to us?" Hitsugaya asked.

"They have a filter-like device that can suppress and contain the reiatsu inside so none will leak out. I activated it tonight when I realized that behaviour pattern of alien reiatsu." Urahara explained, hiding his face behind his fan, his eyes gleaming in that unreadable way.

"Sensible. Right, Captain?" Seiko asked before Hitsugaya could ask anything more. What Urahara had said could be simplified down to "reiatsu filter" and Seiko was almost absolutely sure that there was more to it than Urahara had just told. Moreover, if he was telling them to do something, there would always be a good reason.

"Yeah." Hitsugaya agreed after a very short pause.

"Then, good luck." Urahara stood up smiling. Seiko and Hitsugaya stood up after him, then Hitsugaya walked out of the shop and Seiko followed him from two steps behind. Right before she went out, she heard Urahara call her name quietly.

"Yeah?" she answered quietly, pausing her walk.

"Be careful for yourself too." Urahara said.

"What do you mean?" Seiko quickly whispered, taking one slow step towards the door.

"Whatever had happened to him, it could happen to you too; there's just no guarantee. Be careful about that." Urahara said hurriedly.

"Aye." Seiko breathed and returned her steps to their original pace and walked out of the shop.

With the sunlight as cheerful as it can possibly be, the previous day seemed like a dream to her for a second. She felt that she had no will to play the detective. She'd leave it to her captain and – oh wait, she also needed to look out for him too. When the illusion of the bright and cheerful morning broke, she felt so helpless for the first time since the mission started. How was someone like her supposed to solve such a case? If the answer didn't come out and dance in front of her or punch her in the face, she doubted she'd ever find it. Then again, her beloved captain was also involved somehow, so she had no choice but to manage. Urahara was helping her, that was one good thing though it was weird she had started to think of him as a good thing so quickly; but out in the open she was all alone. She was the one to decide, she was the one to look out for all the weirdness when she had almost no idea what was weird, what was not for her life wasn't so normal either. The only thing she could actually detect was the changes in the reiatsu flow and the unusual actions of Hitsugaya. But then she probably couldn't connect them and come to a conclusion and she probably couldn't act right if anything urgent happened. She also had no idea what she would do if Hitsugaya started acting even more weird than he had been yesterday. She could of course take action; but Urahara had confirmed her thoughts about Hitsugaya being somehow affected by the colorless reiatsu so she could never know what would happen to Hitsugaya and it'd definitely hold her back. Maybe her holding back would be the best, who knew? She was so clueless anyways.

"Stop thinking."

"Huh?" she raised her eyes to look at Hitsugaya.

"You function better when you're simple." he stated matter-of-factly. He had been waiting for her.

"Oh... 'kay." Seiko murmured on the outside. _Function better? Really? Am I a damn machine or what?_ she mocked on the inside.

"What did Urahara want?" Hitsugaya said skepticially.

"He asked if I could bring some Wasabi on the way back." Seiko shrugged indifferently; but that wasn't what she was feeling at all. Hitsugaya had noticed alright, she knew he would; but he had become suspicious.

"And he told that to you only because..."

"He thought you wouldn't accept. Personally I don't think you'd accept either, Captain; I know you, you take missions far to seriously for that." Seiko said smirking. She hoped he would believe that.

"Right, I wouldn't." Hitsugaya said. Those three words relaxed Seiko a thousand times more than she though they would. He had believed it. _Safe._

"So, you ready?" he asked.

"No I'm not and I don't think I'll ever be but it doesn't matter. Let's go." Seiko said. She hadn't meant to say that; but she had to let out steam somehow. Lately she was kind of stressed out. _Guess why._

Hitsugaya just nodded and started walking. Seiko quietly followed him out of the reiatsu filter that protected the shop. The change she felt was unbelieveable. It was safe inside; but outside felt like it was boiling with anger, hatred and deep sorrow. Seiko felt like she was being suffocated by the heavy emotions she breathed in from the air. She struggled to act like she felt nothing for Hitsugaya looked like he noticed nothing at all and she didn't want him to notice anything. _And Urahara said it was tamer. Hell, I even thouth there might be a reiatsu filter in the gigais! Behaviour pattern, my ass!_

The energy was a little less compared to the night; but somehow the force and effects of it were a little extreme. Even she was about to feel depressed because of all the agony the reiatsu beared. She didn't want to feel depressed because whenever she did, she couldn't control her reiatsu properly and... _yeah, just like this._ Her flaming reiatsu had already started to go wild inside her despite her being in the gigai. She hoped that Urahara made her gigai fire-resistant but she couldn't risk it. As she tried to suppress the reiatsu, she realized that it seemed to reduce effects of the colorless agony. _Interesting._ Definitely worth telling Urahara; she could be of use in the end. She stopped her efforts to suppress the reiatsu and tried her gigai. As the flames reached her arms and legs, nothing happened at all. Not even erythema, let alone any burns. Urahara had thought everything. _As expected. _

"Hey, won't you stay close?"

She gasped and raised her head quickly at her captain's annoyed words. She was supposed to have been getting used to it since she had been hearing it very frequently lately; but she still wasn't used to it yet. It startled her every time he raised his voice annoyed at her. For her, having him scold her was a rare thing, especially since she started to understanding him better than anyone or anything else. She noticed that she had fallen a few meters back and hurried towards him as he looked down at her clearly showing his annoyance, she really wondered how he managed to do that with such height though.

"I'm verry sorry. I must have dozed off, my bad." she apologized quickly. Hitsugaya sighed and changed his eyes from annoyed to piercing-through.

"Fine, be more careful from now on. It's crowded so looking for you will be troublesome if I lose you." he said, then turned around and kept walking.

"Aye!" Seiko said simply and followed him from one step behind, trying to act as normal as she could in this situation and hide her panic. They had been walking towards the north for a while now and they were close to the high school; but the school had already started so there were no students around. In fact there were almost no one around, except for a woman on bicycle, a jogger and one old lady with her tiny furry doggie. Definitely not enough to call the street crowded. _Unless he's hallucinating, that is._

_

* * *

_A/N: oh Gods; it's been such a hard part to type! Seiko was acting so silly in the original story that i had to rewrite more than half of it. I was truly a teenager it seems. her problems, her thoughts... they lack logic sometimes. and after this chapter, i see there's a short part necessary which i didn't even write in my red notebook, i'll need to write that short part... oh, so busy, so busy! and now i have to go to the lessons and study too... yeah, that's the reason for me putting up the chapter late. i ain't apologizing for that. i'm trying my best here and that best will have to do for all of us - me included. oh well, hope i'm still doing a good job despite the busy times. please review and tell me if i have any grammar or reasoning mistake, thank you!

P.S: Unnamed and Kiwi, thank you a lot for the reviews up till now. Unnamed, especially you have been such a great support, reviewing every chapter. if i'm still up typing the story, that's because i know someone reads and looks forward to reading my story. so i'm very grateful. i just had to say that.


End file.
